


a collection of words

by madandimpossible



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, I AM SO AMUSED BY THESE TAGS OMG, IN SPACE!, Prompt Fic, Series 5, so series 6 never happened and we still didnt know who river was, this strictly takes place in series 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-12
Updated: 2011-04-10
Packaged: 2017-11-16 11:24:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madandimpossible/pseuds/madandimpossible
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>amy and the doctor live their mad, mad life together. a prompt based on the alphabet. (set in series 5)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. abduction to fascination

**Author's Note:**

> All fics are set after “Cold Blood” and before “The Pandorica Opens.” (yes, so that I don't have to deal with Rory. Cough.)

_Abduction:_ the act of taking someone away by force or cunning; kidnapping. 

  
 

The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS with a flourish, “Lumicent. Smaller than Earth, amazingly intelligent planet, lovely, very industrial.” He grinned at Amy as she took in the sights. Buildings taller than the sky, neon lights, glossy windowpanes and somehow the sunlight was able to burn past all the tall buildings and cover the city in a sparkling glow. Amy had to blink a few times to get her eyes to adjust to the light.

“It's so bright!” Amy turned to the Doctor, “What else? Do they have flying cars or...?”

The Doctor chuckled, leading the way as they walked through the bizarrely empty streets, “No...teleporting stations, usually. Much like a bus station on Earth.” The Doctor said pointing to a row of circular pads on the ground with a parking-meter shaped control panel next to each pad. His forehead creased as he noted the red blinking light on all the teleporters. They were offline?

“Why's it so...”

“Empty.” The Doctor finished her sentence and he spun around in place. Amy followed him as he went to a window and peered inside. Empty. Amy frowned, “Doctor, nearly every single shop is closed.” The two stood side by side and he could hear the cogs in her head turning. Wait...

“Doctor!” He turned to see a machine created out of cogs, turning and rotating with each step. More cog-machines followed the first. Their parts shining in the bright light of the city, they reminded the Doctor of those beautiful clockwork robots.

“Blimey.” The Doctor blinked, “Amy? Run!”

There was that thrilling adrenaline as they ran through the streets together. “This way!” She grabbed his arm and dragged him down a different street. “Uh-oh.”

“This is an army.” The Doctor said, his back pressing against Amy's as the clockwork robots that weren't really the clockwork robots closed in from both sides. The Doctor was thinking, thinking of what to do or say. They were robots. He's dealt with robots before...Cybermen...he's seen it all. Come on, think think think.

“Doctor?”

“Hush, Amy. Thinking!”

“Doctor, they don't have mouths. But...they have hearts...”

“What?!” The Doctor held his sonic at one of the robots, he checked the readings, “Impossible. Alien hearts? Why? Why? All machine except the heart? Who is your master?! Who is controlling you?” The Doctor demanded as the tight circle began to close. Their faces were all cogs varying in size and Amy was correct—no mouth. But, how did they communicate then? What was the point of having an alien heart? No brain, from what he could see and what the sonic was picking up.

He turned to Amy, searching her face, as if his companion had all the answers.

“Amy! We'll get out of this.” The Doctor said as one of the machines grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him away, away from Amy, and he didn't know where they were going.

Amy gave a small forced laugh, “We always do!”

_Body:_ the entire structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being).

[connected to letter A]

  
 

4 Days...

The not-really-clockwork-robots tossed him into a cell with a wooden door and a least fifty Lumicent citizens. They were quiet, marvelous, and smart. Their skin varying shades of blue, aqua, and silver. Their eyes wide with yellow iris's, their hair depending on age: the elders usually had white hair, much like humans did, and the younger generation had soft, indigo shades.

The Doctor spent four days, that's 78—no 82 hours without Amelia Pond. He paced, he talked, talked to himself and to the other captives. They explained, they reasoned, but none could stop his worry. The feeling that kept him awake whether it was night or day. The feeling that he had lost Amy Pond and her heart was resting inside one of those robots.

“So, what happened?” The Doctor asked on the third day(72nd hour, 45th minute and 34th second) with his back leaning on the wall.

An elderly female answered his question, “They came from beneath the soil. Three of them, metallic hearts, beating in rhythm. Authorities were terrified, citizens were worried, scientists were ecstatic. We brought them to the Academy, tried to find out where they came from...tried to learn...”

“But they don't have any sort of communication...” The Doctor frowned.

“That's what we thought, they communicate with their hearts. The beat. It's like...a code. The rhythm...their hearts are temporary, I suppose, until they can build the metal hearts we saw the originals with.”

“But why so many? Why abduct a whole civilization and use them...keep so many of us hostage?” The room fell silent then, nobody had the answers, not even the Doctor. His only guess was that these robots were re-building their own society, a society that had been lost, and it was up to him to get these two to live together harmoniously. He wouldn't have another war happen...no. No wars. Ever. Not while he was around.

On the 82nd hour, 20th minute, and 15th second was when the wooden door was violently shoved open and he met the wild eyes of Amy Pond. “Well, come on then!” She snapped, holding the door open, and the Doctor was the first out the door.

The other Lumicent citizens followed and dispersed amongst the crowded hallways, finding their families and friends, overriding controls and opening more doors. The machines stood idly, not attacking, the sound of their hearts drowned in the sound of all the voices.

The Doctor collected Amy into his arms and hugged her tightly. He heard her laugh into his shoulder.

“Gotcha.” She muttered.

The Doctor shut his eyes and felt her arms around his neck, could smell her hair, feel her back, his nose brushing on her neck, and oh how he memorized it all.

“Doctor, the heart is the key. It's given them emotions, just a little, just enough to listen to reason, I talked to them...” Amy explained as the Doctor pressed his forehead against hers, his hands holding her face. She could see the worry etched into his eyes. His thumbs ran along her cheekbones. The Doctor was proud of her, Amelia Pond, the Scottish girl in an English village, the girl who waited, the feisty companion, the girl who saves worlds...

“We've got a planet to save then, now don't we?” He said as he stared into her face. The curve of her eyebrows, the freckles on her skin, the color of her eyes, and shape of her lips. The Doctor closed his eyes, intent on being able to see her face even with his eyes closed.

The Doctor kissed her forehead, “Come along, Pond.”

And he's done it, he's always been good at that, saving planets, saving people, saving her...but this time, she had saved him. And yeah, when they got back to the TARDIS, Amy was a little smug about it. With her and the Doctor's combined efforts along with the efforts of the Lumicent people—the robots saw their hearts. Some, as the Doctor feared, exploded and broke down upon the realization. Others resented their new forms and would stop at nothing to help the scientists to find a way to reverse it (which would take time). The three that risen from the soil returned to it.

“So...” Amy said as she danced around the console, “Did I impress you?”

“Oh yes, didn't expect it at all.” He grinned. The Doctor took her hands and Amy suddenly felt very, very nervous _and maybe a little excited_ as he looked at her. “For a while there, Pond, I had thought I had lost you.” His eyes fell down onto their hands and Amy laced their fingers together, smiling softly.

He leaned forward, making her heart do a little jump, but his forehead just rested against hers. He wanted to remember it all. The way her hand fit with his, the length of her eyelashes, and the current color of her fingernails. Four days, twenty minutes, and fifteen seconds was far too long apart from Amy Pond.

It's amazing she went fourteen years without him.

  
 

_Chocolate:_ a food made from roasted ground cacao beans.

  
 

The Doctor knew Amy was up to something when she came down the stairs, two at a time, with something red, square, and glossy in her hands. He knew by the way she smiled. But, he's the Doctor, so he kept his tone nonchalant when he asked; “Amy? What have you got there?”

“Chocolate!” Amy plopped down on the seat near the console. The Doctor shrugged, returning to his work. He wasn't fond of chocolate, not that he tried it in this body, but he hadn't had much luck with different foods. The Doctor flipped a few switches and pulled down on the big-red-important-looking lever. He turned to Amy, “Now then, let's go see where we've landed!”

“Wait.” Amy held out a piece of chocolate to the Doctor. “You gotta try this.”

“Ah, no thanks...” The Doctor gave a small grin, but she would not be swayed.

“Come on! Just a little?” There was this swelling feeling in her chest, this echo of nostalgia that made her smile. “You never asked for chocolate that night you crashed into my backyard.”

“Well, that's because I don't like chocolate.”

To the Doctor, Amy looked like someone had tossed a bucket of dead squids onto her face. She narrowed her eyes skeptically, “Have you even tried it?”

“No.” Amy's smile widened at this. She broke the already small piece of chocolate in half and extended it to the Doctor, “Try it, then we go!”

The Doctor opened his mouth to argue but, when he saw the look of childlike excitement and mischief on her face, he simply could not deny her. Which, would probably end up being a problem at some point. The Doctor sighed, snatched the chocolate from her finger tips and popped it into his mouth. His teeth made contact with the sweet...

And he promptly spat it out, his face contorting in disgust while Amy was doubled over in laughter. He had laughed too, just a bit, and then it was all serious (well, not entirely) as they exited the TARDIS.

“That's odd.” The Doctor immediately commented to the frozen tundra before them.

“What? That's it's _freezing_?” At least, Amy was wearing jeans for this. The Doctor shook his head before walking along, Amy following with her arms wrapped around her frame. She didn't like it when he didn't explain and when he did—he spoke so quickly so that when she were to ask 'what?' he'd make this face like she had just dribbled on her shirt. Amy (sometimes) could follow her madman Doctor, his rants, his ravings, his quick-to-the-point explanations, and his long, powerful speeches. It was when he _didn't_ speak that confused her the most.

A man who moved so much and talked so much; it unnerved her when he was silent.

_'It's bloody freezing,'_ Amy licked her lips,  _'I wouldn't be surprised if my lips were blue!'_ The landscape was mostly ice and a thin layer of snow but it was the chilling wind that was affecting her the most. Her red scarf around her neck seemed to mock her as it whipped around with her hair. She tried to move it so it covered her nose and mouth but it kept falling down. Eventually, Amy just gave up on it. It was only a few minutes after leaving the TARDIS that they found whatever it was they were looking for. Only noted because the Doctor exclaimed 'Aha!' once he saw the door.

The building looked like a big-bulky factory, “S-s-so we mad-d-e it then-n, y-yeah?” The Doctor turned, looked extremely guilty for a split second, and then smiled. Amy looked two degrees away from being an ice sculpture. He pulled her inside of the equally cold yet far more comfortable factory.

“This planet...” He began, and Amy was thankful for some explanations, “Is set to be in a constant winter. Not like this, not at all like this, this is extreme! Not like winter at all, more like a big...freezer!” The Doctor was sonic-ing the computers and the fuse boxes. The factory slowly buzzed to life, lights turned on, computers booted up, there was the echoing clang of machines shaking off the icicles and pushing through the cold. 

“And s-so what happened to everyone?” Amy was beginning to feel the muscles of her face again.

“Left. Machines malfunctioned and short-circuited by the looks of it, didn't have the tools to repair it, so they left...” _or they died._ The Doctor mentally added as he entered the proper temperature. He looked to Amy, seeing her blow air into her hands and frown. He took a quick stride over to her and chuckled, “Why didn't you grab a warmer jacket?” He asked, curious, remembering how Donna left mid-speech to grab heavy winter jacket.

“I didn't know we were walking into a freezer!” Amy didn't think his tweed jacket was all that warm anyways, so why wasn't he complaining or rubbing his hands together and he didn't even loose any color to his lips or...or...Amy's brain decided to promptly shut up then. Ha-ha if she wasn't so cold then maybe she could have made a joke about brain freeze. His hand cupped the side of her face for the faintest of moments and then between that moment and a sharp intake of air—he was _kissing_ her.

Color flooded to her cheeks and she could feel the warmth from his body radiating into hers. The Doctor had pulled her close and Amy responded with enthusiasm, her once numb fingers curling around his lapels. The kiss was fervent and demanding, ' _I don't like chocolate.'_ The Doctor mused, _'but right now, Amy tastes like chocolate. So? Do I only like chocolate on—do not finish that thought.'_ Her thoughts of being cold, well, she had forgotten what the word cold had even meant. Amy pulled away, a little breathless and a lot warmer, and she stared at the Doctor. He was mirroring her shocked, out of breath expression.

He cleared his throat, “Next time, bring a warmer jacket.” The Doctor grinned, as if he was trying to pretend that didn't just happen and they were moving along with his point and he did not just snog the magnificent Amy Pond. _'Can't say I would want to, Doctor, after that performance'_ Amy returned the smile.

“Next time, do that thing you do...” She licked her finger and held it up, mimicking what he once did after they picked up River, “And let me know what the weather is like.”

On the walk back to the TARDIS, the weather was far less severe but still cold. “I wonder if the TARDIS has hot-chocolate.” Amy thought aloud, making the Doctor cringe a little bit. “Would you try some?”

“Amy, if I don't like chocolate when it's room temperature and solid, what makes you think I'd like it when it's liquid and scalding hot?”

“You seemed to like it when it was on my tongue.” Amy Pond did not miss the fleeting flush of color on the Doctor's cheekbones and the way he increased his pace to get to the TARDIS before her. She bit back a grin. These moments; she wouldn't trade them for all the chocolate in the world (or universe).

  
 

  
 

_Dark:_ devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black.

  
 

He took her to the planet of Acerbus and Amy had now seen two completely polar opposite planets. While the planet (although their visit was short) Lumicent was bright, sparkling and hurt her eyes, the planet Acerbus was dark—and by dark, Amy had to keep grasp of the Doctor's hand just to know where she was going. He didn't seem to mind though. 

The darkness was almost tangible, unlike the shadows she saw on Earth, these shadows were created with very little to no light. This darkness her eyes couldn't adjust to, it was like a thick layer of just black. The creatures of the planet could see crystal clear while herself and the Doctor stumbled and kept one another close. “Doctor?” Amy whispered, something about the dark and whispering seemed to go hand-in-hand, much like herself and her Raggedy Doctor at the moment.

“Hm?”

“Why can't I see the stars? Are we underground?” _Ah, observant as always._ The Doctor smiled a hidden smile. He then explained how the whole city was surrounded by this, to put it simply, environmental dome. The sunlight would blind them after living in darkness for so long, it was simply a characteristic of their race to be shrouded in darkness. 

Amy listened intently because she really did like how he explained things. He moved their intertwined hands together as he gesticulated and he spoke quietly, even if she couldn't see him—she knew he was tilting his head toward hers. The darkness gave her this feeling of intimate closeness with him. If he felt that same intimate closeness, he didn't show it.

“Here we are!” The Doctor said, pulling Amy down to the floor with him. She sat beside him, blinking, hoping that she could see some shapes or anything really. “Now, watch.” The Doctor's hand gently squeezed her own. ' _I hope I found the right place, no, this is the right place. It happens here every year, every day, it's not like it could get up and walk around. Then again...it could. Gotta say, got here without a guide...that was impressive.'_

_'Watch what? Am I missing something?'_ Amy tried not to be too impatient, she wanted to see what the Doctor wanted to show her—his reason for bringing her here. 

Then, it happened. A white-blue, soft, barely moving light appeared and illuminated a miniscule circle. Another light of the same color. Another. As the field became illuminated with these tiny lights, Amy realized what they were. Flowers. Their petals were tiny and at the center was the small, small light, glowing so-very-softly. There was this mist, too, given off by the blooming flowers. It sparkled very faintly and twirled in and about the stems.

“It...it looks like the night sky!” Amy turned to the Doctor, seeing him for the first time upon landing on this planet.

He grinned at her. Amy's face was filled with awe and wonder, she would never get used to this, used to seeing such beautiful things. It wasn't always beautiful, she saw terrible things too...but, that was life. A balance...a...pile of good things and a pile of bad things.

“Can we walk?” The Doctor nodded, his thumb caressing hers right before they stood.

Amy felt like she was walking in the sky, she let go of the Doctor's hand and he was only a few steps behind her. Amy gave a small twirl, feeling giddy and childish and delightful and so very grateful that he was sharing this with her.

The Doctor smiled, standing with his hands behind his back as he watched Amy move about the glowing foliage. He watched the mist, well it was actually pollen, twirl around Amy as she crouched down to examine the plants and it sparkled, twisting its way through her red hair.

The Doctor felt a serenity in which the way she moved. He breathed in deep, checking his watch, _'Oops.'_ The Doctor hurried and took Amy's hand again. She looked at him like she was expecting him to say something—but they were doused in darkness once more as the flowers closed. 

“Getting here was easy.”

“Please tell me you know the way back.” Amy could see his boyish smile in her mind's eye.

“Yeah!” A pause, “Kind of.” Another heavy pause, “It's...we go...this way!”

They laughed, holding hands, clinging to each other as the stumbled, feeling around in the darkness and hoping that (with some luck) they'd bump straight into the TARDIS.

  
 

  
 

_Emblem:_ special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.

  
 

Amy found the door by accident. The Doctor might have said the TARDIS had led her there but, Amy was pretty sure she found it on accident. It was a deep brown and the door knob was a freshly polished silver. Amy bit her lower lip in anticipation as her hand grasped the knob and turned--

Locked.

She tried again. “Keeping secrets are you?” She asked the TARDIS. Amy backed away from the door besides, the TARDIS was ginormous! She could find another door. Five minutes later, the same door was there—not in the same place. _'What is this? Like Hogwarts but instead of moving stairs we get moving doors?'_ For the hell of it, Amy tried the door again and surprise! It was locked.

Amy turned to walk away but she saw something out of the corner of her eye. There was a symbol on the wood. It was silver and black, it looked almost like two figure eights combining with one another. Something about the symbol on the door resonated deep within Amy's heart. This symbol was _ancient_ and she wanted to find out what it was. More than want, it was need to know.

When Amy turned back to the door, the symbol was gone, she could only see it out of the corner of her eye. Perception filter, that's what the Doctor called them. The Doctor had also talked about the TARDIS being alive, in a way, that's how the wardrobe room always had the perfect size, how the fridge was stocked, no shortage of tea...

It was worth a shot. “Um...TARDIS...could you show me to the library?”

Trusting her instinct and that the TARDIS would lead the way, Amy pushed open two heavy mahogany doors and she noticed right away, a book was on the floor—open. Amy crouched down and flipped a few pages, seeing gibberish, but on the page it was open to...English. “You're showing me this?”

Amy could have sworn she _felt_ the TARDIS say yes.

“I am so honored.” Amy looked back to the book and there was the symbol, the very same she saw on that door. _'Seal of Rassilon; a symbol of great power used by the Time Lords.'_ Amy's stomach jumped into her throat. Amy shut the book, very carefully, because it was big and ancient and the pages might turn to dust any second. She had an idea as to _why_ the TARDIS had shown her this.

“I'll show him, that's what you want right? That's why you showed me. He needs to go in there—yeah?”

The TARDIS hummed.

Amy smiled, here she was, having a conversation with a space ship! Ah! This was great. Much better than any fairytale. “You can count on me, uh...old girl.”

  
 

  
 

_Fascination:_ the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror).

  
 

As he paced through the Library, the Doctor tried to pinpoint exactly _when_ it happened.

“I was fascinated by Amelia, seven years old in a house far too big with a crack in her bedroom wall.” The memory was still so vivid in his mind as if it only happened thirty minutes ago. If he hadn't been late, oh if he hadn't been late, what then? Would he have taken young Amelia and watched her grow up and found the reason for the cracks and then...oh what if he lost her then?! Moving on, moving on...

“And then Amy...” To him, Amy and Amelia were like two completely different people. Yet, they weren't. Two sides of the same coin? Perhaps. A logical metaphor.

He was fascinated by Amy, yelling and pulling him by his tie, feisty and her energy sparking off of his. She was just as mad as him. Fascinated by her bravery, her intelligence, her Scottish accent, her hair, her smile, her sense of humor, her boldness, her compassion, her choice in clothing...

Fascinated by Amy—because she was just magnificent. She was mad, impossible, Pond. There were other feelings, like vines they grew upon his fascination and bloomed into something much, much more. Something the Doctor hadn't felt since...well...since a really long time. Or maybe not. Time was different around him. But, that was another life, so he counted it as a long time.

Okay okay, he's been interested in Amy Pond since the start...but _when_ exactly did he fall for her? The Doctor gave an exasperated sigh as he collapsed into one of the plush chairs with the stuffing peaking out in the arm.

The Doctor ran his hand down the length of his face. Maybe it wasn't a question of when, what mattered now was shaking this feeling, this fascination before it was too late. His bones ached feeling the weight of nine-hundred and seven years. He'd live for nine-hundred more, and she could spend her life with him but, as he once said; he couldn't spend his life with her.

“It's not that easy...” The Doctor said to himself, resting his elbows on his knees. “You loved Rose for two regenerations, two!” And not to mention the meta-crisis, Rose in a way had him. The Doctor was not going to create a TimeLord-Human version of himself just so Amy could be with him. No.

“This isn't...just infatuation with Pond, it's more...so much more. Fascination, adoration, affection, all bundled in this...great big ball of...stuff!” The Doctor felt the TARDIS give him a gentle nudge, which could only mean that Amy was awake and would be seeking him very soon.

The word was on his tongue but he swallowed it back. He'd have to admit it to himself before he ever said to Amy. _Oh and how could I ever tell her? Rory, she doesn't remember him, but I do...and I like Rory. He's nice...he needs Amy, loves her, and she doesn't know it but she misses him. Maybe she knows? Maybe she's always known...I hope she knows...and what if she says it first? Then what do I do? What if I say it? No, no, I'll be careful..._

“Doctor?” She paused, “Where's the swimming pool?” It seemed that every time she went to the Library, the swimming pool decided to leave. It was disheartening, really.

“It'll come back. Might be in the broom closet.”

“Which broom closet?” And he's fascinated all over again as she smiles.

“We can find it later, I want to show you something.”

“A planet?”

“Yes.”

“It's the planet of Acerbus...” He explained as they walked back to the center of the TARDIS. The Doctor is hoping that with enough adventures, enough running, that it'll shake this feeling—because he doesn't want this to get complicated and he doesn't (really, really, really) doesn't want to bring her home.

  
 


	2. grief to letter

Grief –  _is a multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed._  


The Doctor expects the TARDIS brought him here, she always was a stickler for promises. He was expecting Earth circa 1880, and instead, he got Earth—present day. The house looks much bigger and much older than he remembers. The hedges are overgrown and twisting their way over one another, fighting for sunlight. One of the windows has been smashed and the vines that were growing along the side of the house have nearly taken over.

The blue front door gives way as he pushes it. As if the house has been expecting him to show up any day now. The Doctor runs his hand along the banister, collecting dust on his fingers, as he makes his way up the stairs.

" _Count them. The rooms, count them."_

He stares for a long time at the radiator. The bloody radiator that she had handcuffed him to while pretending to be a police woman. He smiles at the memory and continues on, the house, her home, reminds him too much of the TARDIS. Much bigger on the inside. He almost yells, just to see if there's an echo, but the silence is so somber that the Doctor looses his voice. He's not used to this.

The paint is chipping away on the walls.

" _Look where you never want to look..."_

Amy's bedroom is bare. He doesn't know why, but he was almost expecting her bed to be there, with the lights, and the pictures, and the various childhood drawings. The emptiness is crawling inside him and he peers out the window to see his TARDIS in the garden. Seeing his police box there helps chase away the emptiness, makes him remember the good times.

" _About WHO I want..."_

The Doctor sits on the dusty, ill kept floor, and picks up the envelope waiting for him. It's yellowed with age, yet untouched since the day she left it for him.

" _Can you promise me that?"_

" _'course Amy, of course..."_

The Doctor carefully opens the letter. His hearts beating unusually fast, as he begins to read.

_Doctor,_

_This is so strange...writing a letter that you won't see until our adventures are over. At this very moment, you are trying to cook something! Can you believe it? You. Cooking. The Raggedy Doctor who eats fish custard. This time was better than never to write you this, I guess. We're not running from aliens or covered in sick or saving a planet a thousand years in the future._

_Doctor...I just wanted to say...you are a mad, impossible, alien—and I will never forget you. Oi! And one more thing! Don't travel alone for too long, yeah? You need someone to keep you on your toes._

_Love,_

_Amy ( p.s. Gotcha)_

The Doctor folds the letter and places it in his jacket. He remains in her old bedroom for what may have been hours. His hearts ache, remembering her, wishing she was back, but knowing that his fairytale was over. He closes his eyes, feeling her arms around his neck, seeing her ginger hair against a snowy landscape, her nails—purple today, the freckles on her skin, and that smile. That contagious smile. The Doctor stands, brushing the dust off his pants, and wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. The Doctor sniffles and straightens his bowtie;

This would be the last time he walked out of Amelia Ponds' house.

 

Horometry –  _Time measurement_  


Amy has gotten used to disgusting things when it comes to traveling with the Doctor. She's been covered in sick, she's seen him eat grass, but  _this_...

"You insulted their queen, Amy!" He said, little droplets of green slime falling off his jacket as he runs. Globs of it splatter onto the black rock of this planet. He grabs her hand, and its covered in matching slime, and Amy squeezes tight in hopes that they won't slip and get separated.

The mob of royal guards is chasing them, which is why they need to get to the TARDIS and  _fast_.

"I didn't mean to! I just sneezed!"

"I know, I know." The Doctor tightens his grip around her fingers and she wants nothing more than to wipe her hands and get a better grasp. "But on this planet, sneezing is the highest insult-"

"Is that why she sneezed on us?"

"Yes." He grins a little and there's a big yellow-green drop hanging off his fringe. Amy wants to wipe it away, she wants to jump into a big bathtub or pool—maybe the Library will have the pool today.

They slide into the marketplace and its filled with aliens but, the coating green slime on their clothes and hair along with the yelling guards on their tail—isn't helping when trying to blend in.

"Come on." Amy pulls the Doctor and he lets out a whoop of excitement because the TARDIS is so undeniably close.

The Doctor pushes the TARDIS door open and Amy turns, just in time, to catch a glimpse of their pursuers. Who knew aliens that looked an awful lot like slugs could move so quickly! She shuts the door and the TARDIS is already moving, getting them both the hell out of there.

And once they are safe, Amy starts to laugh. She falls onto her knees on the console floor, holding onto her stomach, laughing until tears pool in her eyelids. The Doctor is laughing too, the slime falling onto the various buttons and doo-dads and pulley-looking-things. Amy tries to get up but only slips on the floor and the Doctor stumbles as he grabs her arms and helps pull her up. Amy clutches his jacket to steady herself, it smells, and it's truly, truly foul. Yet, here she is covered in alien snot and she's  _never been happier._

Amy lifts her head from her pillow, never really knowing the time when she wakes up or when she goes to sleep. Her body is getting used to it, sort of. She sleeps when she can, when there's no distress signal, no impending doom on some planet or when the Doctor looks at her and says; "Pond?" then he'll say something about a repair needing to be done, or a thing he needs to find and she still doesn't know how he can tell. Well, there was that one time she fell asleep in the jumper seat.

She doesn't like to sleep, because her dreams are always frustrating and make her wake up confused and  _sad_. She hates that. Amy can't stand the thought that she's missing something when she has absolutely everything—all of time and space at her fingertips!

"Doctor?" She finds him in the kitchen.

"Morning Amy!"

"Is it morning?" Amy takes a seat at the small table, resting her elbows on the table.

"Well, you've just woken up haven't you? I'd say that's morning."

"Yeah but, is it?"

"Is it what?" He turns, his face confused, and Amy realizes that he's sonic-ing the teapot. She also decides that it doesn't matter if it's morning or afternoon; there are millions of stars out there and millions of planets and they're all experiencing their own mornings, afternoons, and nights. She'd go mad if she tried to measure it all.

"What are you doing to the kettle?"

"Ah, well..." The Doctor looks at the kettle again, hundreds of little thoughts running through that massive head of his. "I was trying to change the whistle."

"Can you make it sound Scottish?"

"It's a kettle, Amy."

"Yeah? And that's a sonic." She points to the device in his hand, "I thought it could do anything."

In the end, their kettle now makes a purring noise when the water boils.

 

Ignicolist -  _Fire-worshiper_  


He tells her that there's a planet where they've found a way to use the lava from surrounding volcanoes as an energy force. She doesn't believe him until he takes her. The sky is dark, and the Doctor explains that it's because of the amount of soot in the air, but she isn't listening. She's absolutely entranced by the fountain in the town square, it's a statue of a woman dancing with a man and the lava is suspended, twirling around the couple. It's like nothing she's ever seen.

She didn't even think lava could  _do_ that. The Doctor notices her interest and now he's talking about gravity and physics and the advanced technology of this world yet the simplicity in which they live.

It takes Amy a half-second to notice that the Doctor is the only one talking.

Amy turns and the Doctor notices it too, the whole cluster of aliens with their pale, translucent skin and sooty, black hair, are staring at Amy. She clears her throat, and the Doctor greets everyone with a cheery (maybe too cheery), "Hello!"

There's a mummer of responses and wary glances. "She is a gift from the mountain!" The mummers turn into sounds of approval. Amy is then swarmed as they crowd around her, giving her fruit or what looks like fruit, and taking necklaces off and putting them around her neck. Amy is trying to talk and she feels the Doctor's hand take her wrist. She casts him a look, but he's not looking, he's talking with one of the surrounding aliens about stars or funny hats—she can't catch any of it with everyone else talking at once."Wonderful!"

"Gorgeous!"

"Lovely!"

"Her hair! Look at her hair!"

Amy smiles, laughs a little bit, not used to all this attention and praise.

The Doctor's voice is close to her ear, "I think...they like you." And she would be lying if she said it didn't cause a small shiver up her spine.

"Beautiful!"

"Enchanting!"

"You must come with us, you simply must! We must give thanks!" They're pushed along with the crowd and Amy loops her arm with the Doctor, she's aware of someone touching her hair and someone is tossing these vibrant red petals into the air. The petals don't float to the ground, rather they suddenly catch fire and disappear.

He grins, shame that he wasn't a ginger, but then again...they might try to wed himself and Amy. Oddly enough, he isn't totally against that idea. The Doctor shakes his head chasing away his thoughts making Amy look at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just had this funny expression on your face."

"Oh." He searches for something more to say and, "Those flowers are called Magma-blossoms because they grow right at the base of the volcano."

Amy knows by the way he's talking that he's avoiding something and at the moment she doesn't have time to ask. The Doctor and Amy are brought up into the city's temple and the high priestess is staring at Amy with a sense of wonder and awe in her eyes...and something else, something that the Doctor doesn't like. No, he doesn't like that look at all.

"Quiet!" Her voice rings out through the halls of sculpted black marble and even the flames seem to shrink. The crowd that had circled around Amy and the Doctor suddenly back away.

"Welcome child..." Her dark eyes flicker. "And...is this your lover?"

The Doctor makes a sound like he just choked on his words.

"I'm the Doctor." He says once he recovers.

"Amy Pond."

"Curious, to have the name that resembles water...when you are so much flame and fire." The high priestess has the same ghostly pale skin, her eyes jet black matching her hair that is tied up and away from her almost-feline looking face. Her robes are a deep crimson and Amy can faintly see markings on the palms of her hands.

Amy feels like the priestess is judging her, weighing her, and analyzing her with her eyes. "Those clothes won't do for our celebration, that is, if you are going to participate?"

"Oh, I don't see why not." The Doctor beams, clasping his hands behind his back.

The priestess smiles, "Excellent."

While Amy is getting dressed for the celebration, which the Doctor can only assume has been created due to her arrival, he is doing what he does best. Staying out of trouble...badly. He couldn't shake the feeling that the priestess (who's name was Pele) had some other motive. He would not forget the look in her eyes when she saw Amy, the look hidden behind her admiration and curiosity. The Doctor admired the little statue crafted from volcanic rock, and by admired—that simply means he held his sonic to it and checked the readings.

"Doctor?" He spun on the spot to see one of the other priestess's from the temple. Her robes were light blue, he noted, and she wore a heavy looking red-orange necklace.

"Yes? Hello! Where is my friend? Is she finished getting all dolled up for this celebration?"

The young priestess seemed to pale at the mention of the word.

"She's ready, but you..." Her dark eyes lowered to the temple floor, "Should hurry."

"Where is she?" The Doctor demands, her suspicious behavior setting alarms off in his head. The priestess shook her head, shifted on her feet, and then pointed behind the Doctor. He whipped around to see a large open window that gave a clear view of one of the volcanoes. "Amy..."

"Oi!" Amy struggled against her binds, making a mental note that if she gets out of this alive she is going to have a rule—no joining celebrations without knowing what that means. The whole community has gathered to the mouth of the volcano and the high priestess is giving her opening speech.

"The sky has brought her to us! A woman with fire for hair and she has agreed to give her life for the prosperity of our city!"

"I never said that!" Amy yells but nobody is listening. Ugh. Amy leans her head back on the stone table and looks at the black sky. Visit a gorgeous planet where everyone loves her hair to the point of obsession and they want to sacrifice her. "Worst celebration ever."

"Really?" Her heart jumps at the voice, "I think they had a rather good turn out." The Doctor's head appears above her own and his lips are pulled back into a smile.

Her right wrist is suddenly free from the cuff and then her left, and Amy throws her arms around him for a half-second. He hugs her back, his two hearts beating a steady staccato against her ribs.

"What are you doing?" Pele shrieks, pointing a long finger at the Doctor. The glowing embers from the volcano making her eyes glow with fury. She is without her robes and her pale body is decorated in markings, drawn on symbols that make Amy dizzy to look at.

Amy's exposed skin is hot and she can't imagine how the Doctor must feel. The lava beneath them hisses and bubbles. Maybe he doesn't let things like heat or cold get to him, it must be an alien thing.

"I can't let you kill Amy."

Pele scoffs, "What is her life to you?"

"Hey!" Once again, no one is listening. Amy crosses her arms, giving Pele her best icy glare.

"Don't you think it would be better to keep her alive? If her hair is such a sign of good luck, why destroy it?"

The crowd is silent, looking from their high priestess to the Doctor, as if they are expecting a fight to break out.

"She offered her life."

"You didn't exactly give her a choice!" Amy swallows at the Doctor's tone and she looks at him, his profile in the eerie volcano light. "Did you?"

"We asked if she wished to participate-"

"In a celebration! A party! Not a sacrifice!" Pele is fighting a loosing battle. The crowd is shifting, moving out of the way, parting, as a woman in light blue robes steps through. The Doctor recognizes her as the same young woman who told him to come here.

"Pele." Her voice is much stronger than before, "That is enough."

Pele looks back and forth from the Doctor and Amy to the mystery woman. She opens her mouth to speak but words fail her. The woman in light blue steps forward with Pele's crimson robes in her hands. "The Doctor is right. Amy Pond is not giving her life to the volcano and destroying such magnificent beauty would surely give us a thousand years of burning rain. I can not allow that."

Pele takes her robes and gives a small huff, something Amy would have heard from a child throwing a tantrum, not from an adult. "Apologizes...mother."

Pele's mother looks to the Doctor and Amy; "Forgive us. This is not how I wish us to be remembered."

"Who are you?" Amy can't help but ask, but the Doctor has already figured it out in his head.

"Bridget...Pele's mother and the Queen."

Amy's eyebrows jump in surprise and Bridget smiles at her strangeness. "Everyone!" She turns to the crowd that has been talking amongst themselves for some time now. "Let us collect Magma-blossoms and wish them a proper farewell!"

On their walk down the volcano path, the Doctor takes off his jacket and puts it around Amy's shoulders. She doesn't say anything because her head feels light, she's hot and cold at once, her throat feels dry, and she just really, really wants to go to sleep. "Easy there, Pond." She can hear him saying. "The high altitude plus the gases that the volcano emits...ah, easy, watch your step." He chuckles a little, keeping her steady, "it's done quite a toll on your body."

"I'm thirsty."

"Yes, yes, don't worry, we're almost at the base."

Amy licks her dry lips and leans into the Doctor who has a firm grip on her arm. It's not until they're back in the temple with the bright lights and Amy drank some golden colored liquid that both quenched her thirst and cooled her body off that the Doctor really  _looks_ at her.

_'She's stunning...'_  And everything the aliens had said earlier today in the town square comes back to him. The gown they've given her is a deep green, it hangs loose on her shoulders, and it flows with her movements. She's tied her hair up and the Doctor can only image it's because people kept touching it. Now, more than ever, he wants to touch her hair too.  _'She's lovely, but she's not...you can't...Rory, remember Rory, Rory.'_

"Here." Bridget gives Amy a red gem that is roughly cut but still sparkling in the orange light. She closes Amy's hand around the gem and casts a glance to the Doctor, along with a smile, "What is it?" Bridget looks back to Amy.

"To help remember us..."

"What do you mean? I don't think I could forget this place...I mean, you did try to sacrifice me to your-"

"Then it is to give you strength in journeys to come." Then Bridget has left her and Amy walks back to the Doctor, more confused that she was.

"I'm ready to go home."

The Doctor looks at her, alarmed, "W-well...okay."

Amy sighs, "Back to the TARDIS."

"Oh." He looks incredibly flustered, "Right." Then he grins, "You don't want to stay for the after party?"

She lightly shoves his shoulder, "Funny."

They take home a bouquet of Magma-blossoms, "Do these need water?" She asks as she takes her hair down with her free hand.

The Doctor bounds towards her and holds the sonic screwdriver to the flowers. They make a crackling noise and for a moment, Amy fears that they'll ignite in her hands. "No. They need soil."

She meets his eyes as he takes the bouquet from her hand. "Where are you going to put them?"

"I'm sure the TARDIS will find someplace."

Amy runs her fingers through her hair as the Doctor heads off to find a vase. Her hair and skin smell like fire, a few ashes fall from her hair and onto the console floor. He returns and freezes on the spot, "Pond, don't move."

"What? What is it?"

His hand is in her hair and Amy does her best not to move, she sees a flicker of red out of the corner of her eye. The Doctor combs his fingers through her hair and Amy involuntarily closes her eyes. "Petals in your hair." She had her hair touched all day, picked up, examined, twirled and braided. "...accident, no doubt." But, the Doctor was gentle as he picked the petals out of her hair and brushed away the ash. "And I don't even know if they would ignite in the TARDIS." His hands are on her shoulders for a moment and her eyes open to see his face studying her.

"All set." He pats her shoulders and then spins back to the TARDIS. Amy isn't sure what's happened, isn't sure if it was the adrenaline, or the red beauty of the planet, but something...yes...something is defiantly different. Forgive the saying, but the spark between herself and the Doctor has finally sprung to life.

 

Join -  _to be or become connected, linked, or united._  


Amy hasn't forgotten the symbol she saw on that locked door. She's just been waiting for the right moment to drag the Doctor and show him. The TARDIS is patient but, Amy knows she's up to something when she won't land. "I don't get it! What's wrong?" The Doctor leans his hands on the console. The TARDIS is moving, but at the same time, she isn't. He's tried coaxing her, speaking to her, and she must have picked up stubbornness from one of his companions.

Amy realizes that this is her chance, "Doctor?"

"It's not...no, no, I stabilized those last night."

"Doctor?"

"What is it, Amy?"

"I've found something."

His eyes moved from the console for the first time since she spoke to him.

"It's a door."

"It's not a green door, is it?"

Amy raises an eyebrow, "There something bad about a green door?"

"No—I mean yes, don't go in that door."

Looks like the TARDIS had more secrets than she thought.

"It's a door with a perception filter."

The Doctor knows what door she's talking about. It's a room he hasn't stepped foot in since Rory's death. He feels the TARDIS give him a nudge, almost like a gentle push to his shoulder. Both Amy and his ship want him to go in there...well, the TARDIS probably showed Amy the room...and now his ship wasn't going anywhere until he went back in there. "Alright, show me."

"It's locked."

"It won't be for me." The Doctor says walking beside Amy and the TARDIS gives a hum of approval.

The door swings open and they're greeted with the sound of ticking clocks. The room isn't very large, there are bookcases and shelves pressed against the walls, filled with both books and various clutter. The clocks are ticking out of synch but it's nice, almost tranquil. There's a fireplace at the far wall and its making the room cozy and comfortable.

"That's Liz 10's mask..." Amy sees the white, perfectly sculpted mask resting on a shelf. The Doctor follows her into the room.

"What is this room?" She turns to the Doctor.

"Things..." He looks at the books, all his favorites, or some he's just collected over time. So, so much time. "Well, let's go see if the TARDIS is ready..."

"What's wrong with this room?"

"Nothing, nothing."  _Don't you see, Amy?_ He wants to tell her,  _I move forward that's what I do. This is a room filled with memories, filled with the past, and I can't dwell on the past or else I'd end up flying my TARDIS into a supernova._

"Hey."

She hugs him, tight, and the Doctor hugs her back. He wonders when she learned how to read him, or if it's just Amy being Amy and reaching out when he's lost in his thoughts, reminding him that he isn't alone. When she moves, he should push her away, because he knows what's coming next. Her hand rests at the nape of his neck and he's actually leaning towards her.

Amy kisses him and it's like that time she kissed him in her bedroom or the time he kissed her on that frozen tundra of a planet but, but, it isn't. No, it isn't like that at all. There's no protest and this isn't some silly, impulsive, stolen kiss. Amy tilts her head back and feels his tongue run along her lower lip. A fleeting thought has the time to wonder if the TARDIS had this planned.

Amy's hip presses against one of the book shelves and the Doctor's hands are skirting up her shirt. His cool fingers come in contact with her skin and Amy's body shudders in response. The Doctor eases away from her mouth and rests his forehead on hers.

"This is...was...my study. A collection of things, books, objects, stuff..." He's letting his mouth talk ahead of his brain. "Time Lords don't need as much sleep, so I used to busy myself in here," His hand finds hers and he takes her along. He tells her about some his favorite books ("I met Shakespeare, oh and then there was Agatha Christie..."), there's a staff resting in the corner of the room—he tells her it's a Time Lord staff, there's the book of Weeping Angels, and there's a colorful scarf that he once used to wear;

"Better than bowties."

"Bowties are cool."

Amy's never felt more a part of his world.

The clocks start ticking again.

 

Kaleidoscope –  _a complex pattern of constantly changing color and shapes._  


The Doctor has been spending time in his study again, Amy only knows this because the door is now unlocked and the TARDIS hasn't been acting up at all. Amy is sitting beneath the console on the swing and the Doctor is moving about above her. "Brilliant! Wait till you see. Gorgeous, rivals the Northern Lights..."

He's right, too. The sky he shows her changes color, like a thin rainbow blanket has been placed over the ivory sky. Amy leans into his chest and feels his heartbeats on her shoulder blades. "Will it always be like this?"

"No." His tone holds a small sadness, "It'll fade...give it another ten years or so."

"There he is!"

Not even a second later, the Doctor and Amy have been surrounded by centaurs with their arrows raised.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm the Doctor."

"We know who you are!" One of them sneers, "Come to gloat, have you?"

"Er...gloat about what, exactly!"

One gives a cruel laugh, "Do not play stupid!"

"You destroyed our weapon! The weapon that would win the war!"

"Oh. Well, that sounds like something I would do, yes."

"Doctor?" Amy looks at him briefly before looking back at the furious centaurs. "We've only just gotten here."

"Yes, but at some point in our future we'll be here...well...our past, no that's wrong, their past—our future."

"Right, right." Amy says quickly, "I get it."

"You will come with us!"

"You and your friend must have consequences for your meddling!"

"No! Let us kill them now!"

The centaurs began to squabble with one another, some saying they must take Amy and the Doctor to the fort and speak with the general, some want a public execution, and others want to destroy them now. The Doctor taps Amy's arm and they slowly back up, Amy is the first to get into the TARDIS, and the Doctor is close behind.

"Amy! Pull the engine release lever!" He yells to her as he sonics the door and centaurs have noticed their disappearance. There are loud noises outside and the Doctor mutters that they should stop shooting his ship.

Amy thanks her lucky stars that she remembered which lever it was. The Doctor soon joins her and the TARDIS begins to dematerialize. Amy looks out the big circular window to catch the fading glimpse of the brilliant, colorful sky.

"So, we're going to go back there, yeah?"

"At some point."

The arrows that hit the TARDIS fall onto the ground as if they didn't touch anything at all. The Doctor smiles and pats the console, feeling a wave of appreciation and affection roll through him. He looks at Amy, who is sitting on the stairs, "Come on, Pond."

She looks at him.

"You can't very well pilot the TARDIS sitting down." Amy's eyes light up and the TARDIS hums with amusement and adoration. The Doctor knew when his TARDIS liked or disliked companions and the TARDIS adored Amy Pond.

"Okay, now," He points at a wheel, "Give that a spin." Amy feels a rush of nervous excitement flow through her veins. The Doctor flips a switch, "Good." And Amy smiles, the closest she's ever been to piloting the TARDIS was when she was trapped inside her. The most she knew how to use was the screen and the zig-zag plotter. Now that she thinks about it, the sky was beautiful, but the machine before her is even prettier.

 

Letter –  _a written message addressed to a person_  


The Doctor doesn't leave her notes. When she falls asleep in the Library, he leaves her a message skirting around the edge of her mind. She likes this more, it reminds her that no matter how human he seems, he's still an alien. A wonderful, mad alien.

The message isn't writing but more of his voice and images. He shows her his study and mentions that he's looking for a green-tube looking thing and if she's seen it, then bring it to him, because he thinks that's the missing part for the chameleon circuit but, he isn't sure and oops! He's rambling now. He tells her that she should eat something because he wants to show her the plant of Baar and it might end up being a long trip, and when she's ready she can find him in his study.

Amy starts writing him letters because she's got messages too and she doesn't have the ability to talk inside his head or whatever it is that he does. Sometimes, they're silly...

_Doctor,_

_Whatever you were fiddling with last night made Opera music play out of the walls of my room._

Other times, they're meaningful and most of these letters just end up stuffed somewhere in her room and never get to the Doctor. Amy never really could write down or express her feelings in a "proper" way. She's better at showing and so far, the Doctor hasn't given her a chance to let her show him how she feels.

So, Amy keeps to the silly, lighthearted letters because they're easier to write and easier to leave for the Doctor to find. She leaves them folded in books, once she stuck one in a box of fish fingers and it said;  _Figures the TARDIS would keep these stocked for you._

It's fun, it's juvenile, and the TARDIS helps once in a while, moving her letters so that the Doctor  _does_  find them. Amy then finds a blank book on the floor of her room and she keeps it as a diary, for the letters she can't give the Doctor, for all the secret thoughts and the thoughts that don't make sense. When she kissed the Doctor back in his study, which felt like so long ago, but also felt like it happened just yesterday (time—seriously, she's given up on measuring it.) There was this feeling in the back of her mind and writing it down didn't help make any sense of it.

_I dream of him, he's got no face but, I know him. I know his voice too but when I wake up, I can't remember. When I kissed the Doctor, I could have sworn I heard his voice, kind of like when I hear the TARDIS. It's not words, but more of a feeling of words. I think I felt him say 'okay' and then it was gone. I felt a smile too, is that weird? I think that's weird. Bizarre, even. I hope I'm not losing my mind..._

Amy keeps this book under her pillow. She doesn't write in it every day or every night, just when she has inspiration to do so. She finds a crumpled note on her nightstand and she can tell by the paper and the writing that's peeping out over the corners that it isn't hers. Amy smooths it out and it's a bunch of numbers, letters, and equations that make no sense. Amy folds the note because, call it time traveler intuition, but she feels like it's important. She places it on her nightstand next to the magma-blossoms and red gem Bridget gave her.

The next morning, Amy moves the blossoms and the gem into his study. The blossoms bloom on the fireplace mantel and the gem sits on the same shelf with Liz 10's mask. She likes knowing that their adventures have mementos, physical objects that won't fade over time, so she won't ever forget.


	3. memory to requiem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the letter "N" was moved to the bottom of the fic, because of the sexytime. Aw yes.

Memory –  _the act or power of remembering._  


The Doctor turns the gem over in his hand. He knows why Bridget gave this gem to Amy. It's special, different, and it's just what she needs. Amy Pond needs to remember.

_She deserves to remember._

He's thought about what she might do once she remembers. She might leave and the darker parts of him cackle in amusement at the fact that he will _break_ if she leaves. Yes, he'll do the right thing, give her a smile and a hug and tell her to take care. But, once she's gone, he'll feel her absence like a flame too close to his skin. He'll travel with others, but none, none will or can compare with Amelia Pond.

When he regenerated, he was so painfully alone, nobody in the TARDIS, just him and this new strange body. She was the very first person he met. A mystery with red hair and a Scottish accent in an English village. Without even knowing it, Amelia Pond had shaped him and continues to do so.

He can't bare to think of her as a solider like Martha and Rose. He could never wipe her memory like he had to with Donna. He can't lose her. He needs Amy Pond.

He wants her in the worst way, the most selfish way, he wants Amy Pond for his own and in his darkest dreams she is his. But, that's wrong, very wrong, and foolish to think like that. (Yet, he can't help it). This affection for her, this great big ball of stuff that he feels towards her, will be the death of him. The Doctor runs his fingers across the gem. It's rough but, it shimmers brightly in the firelight. It was birthed from the heart of the volcano and crafted from the high priestess's hands. He examines the gem at a different angle. The TARDIS shows him that Amy is in the kitchen making tea and he sighs, too much time alone makes him think too much. He pockets the gem, makes way for the kitchen and he can hear the kettle purring.

"Doctor~" Her voice is so airy and light, it makes him smile."Would you like some tea?" She reaches up into the cupboard to find another teacup.

"Amy." He takes her wrist and Amy's pulse does a little jump. "Do you remember why Bridget gave you this?" He asks as he places the gem into the palm of her hand.

Amy blinks, looking down at it, "She said it was to remember them and to give strength on a journey to come, why?"

"This gem is special, Amy. It's important...so important..." He encloses her fingers around it with his hand on top of her own, Amy looks up to meet his intense gaze and her throat goes dry. "It'll help you remember."

"Remember what?"

The Doctor walks away and she can hear a cloister bell, typical—he's back to fixing his motor. Amy opens her hand to look at the roughly cut gem, "Remember what?" She repeats in a whisper.

Amy is sitting on the floor of his study with the gem in her hand and the Doctor is lying beside her (asleep). He said he wasn't tired, said he didn't need to sleep, but then he started reading some book and then bam! Out like a light. Amy looks at the gem with one eye closed and holds it up. She doesn't know what he wants her to remember so badly. She also doesn't know how this gem is going to help at all. Amy sneaks a glance at the Doctor,  _he looks so young..._ and his breath is hitting her knee.

She sets the gem down and situates herself next to him, their shoulder's touching and his face turned towards her cheek. Amy stares at the shadows the fire makes on the ceiling, listens to the sound of all the clocks, and closes her eyes. It's not that she's tired...she's just trying to remember.

When he first arrived, she was seven, and her aunt Sharon wasn't home. When he came back, she was home alone. It had always been just the two of them.

The Doctor and Amy Pond.

She feels his fingers lace with her own and Amy turns her head, but he's still sleeping—or just really good at pretending.

"I don't know what you want me to remember."

His green eyes open and they look so ancient, it's amazing that Amy ever thought he looked young.

"That's okay." He sits up and pulls her to her feet "You will."

Amy holds the gem near her lamp and squints at it. Her hair is still damp from the shower she just took and she's in her nightie. There's no way they're going on any adventures right now. The Doctor would have to tell her something very clever and very impressive to get her to leave this room.

That's when there's a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Amy asks in a sing-song voice. She drops the gem onto her bed.

"What kind of question is that?" The Doctor says from the other side of the door. Amy laughs, resting her palms on the wood.

"An honest one, what if I wasn't decent?"

The Doctor makes this noise between a yelp and a grunt. She faintly hears him clear his throat before speaking. "Are you decent, Pond?"

"I'm in my nightie, but you've seen that before."

She hears him shuffle his feet, she can imagine him trying to make up his mind if he should stay or go and just bother her at another time. Amy opens the door, a tiny, secret part of her wants the Doctor to stumble forward and kiss her. Why else would he show up at this time? It's hardly proper.

"The gem needs fire."

Oh, of course. He doesn't make any move to pass the threshold of her room.

"Can this wait?"

"Amy...this is important, so, so very important."  _It's important that you have your memories of Rory, important so that you can make the choice to stay or leave, important because he deserves to be grieved and he deserves to be remembered._

The Doctor stands back as Amy crouches near the fire. She holds the gem in her hands for a moment before tossing it into the orange flames. It sparks and hisses but, Amy can't tear her eyes away. The fire changes to a blood red-orange...then the gem starts to melt and turns to pink ash at the bottom of the flames. She sucks in a ragged breath, slightly surprised at the tears in her eyes and then;

Amy remembers Rory.

She doesn't even know when the Doctor came to her side. Amy reaches out for him and the Doctor collects her in his arms in a tight, warm hug. The fire is reduced to ash by the time Amy speaks.

"I want you to take me somewhere..."

"Anywhere, Amy." He answers automatically.

They put the fire's ashes into a jar and it's a convoluted mess of black, pink, and red. Amy wraps her scarf around the jar to keep it safe. They go to Rio, at the top of a waterfall, where they can see all the wilderness beneath them. Amy feels like she's on top of the world.

Amy unwinds her scarf from around the jar as she stands at the very edge of the cliff. There is so much green and blue surrounding her, the roaring waterfall, the cries of birds overhead, and it's just so perfect. Rory would have liked it. The Doctor holds her scarf as she unscrews the cap on the jar and a little puff of ashes escape into the air.

"Rory..." her voice breaks "You were great, you really were. Noble, brave-sometimes, caring, hardworking...you were there when nobody else was. Don't worry about me, yeah? I'll be with the Doctor and we always manage to get in and out of trouble..." Amy blinks back her tears. She's never been great at this. Amy can't find anymore words to say because they're all stuck in her throat. She tosses the jar forward and its contents spill out into the air. They watch it; pink, black, and red twirl into the air, up to the sky and down into the waterfall.

"Bye, Rory."

The Doctor takes her hand and stays right there until she voices that she's ready to go back to the TARDIS. It hurts...the loss of Rory, it hurts so fiercely, Amy wonders if she'll split in two. This pain is better, though. There are two people in the whole universe who remember a man named Rory Williams. A man who she loved and lost. The Doctor returns her engagement ring and it now has it's place on her nightstand.

 

Ointment –  _substance used on the skin to heal or soothe wounds._  


Amy doesn't just remember the bad, the death of Rory. She remembers the good, the funny, and the awkward. The way he dropped the ring when he proposed. The way he always managed to burn the toast in the morning. How they used to play dress up as kids. How happy he was when he got the job at the Hospital, and how he had said "I'll be a proper doctor."

She cries. Not in front of the Doctor, oh no. But when she is alone in her room in the TARDIS, Amy will stare at her engagement ring and furiously wipe away her tears. The TARDIS hums to her and makes sure to have her favorite snacks tucked away in the kitchen.

The Doctor takes her to magnificent places. It's only then, when she's seeing new planets and running for her life, does she feel alive. Amy laughs, puts on a smile, and enjoys their adventures completely. Honest, this is the life she had dreamed of since she was seven. It's just taking so damn long for the healing to start.

The Doctor watches her, carefully, and keeps taking her to places and times in history that she'll like. It's the only thing he can do. He found her once in the Library with her face in her hands and a book open on the floor.

Do you talk to girls when they're crying? He has absolutely no idea.

He's bouncing around the console and Amy comes skipping down the steps. "Where we off to now, Doctor?"

"Ohhh, you'll have to wait and see!"

Amy raises an eyebrow, "That means you have no idea..."

The Doctor looks at her, flabbergasted, "I know _exactly_ where I am going, Pond!"

It's the first time in weeks that they exchanged playful banter. The Doctor can feel the Amy Pond he knew resurfacing from the grief. But, he won't push her or expect her to run from sadness like he does. He can be patient. Really, he can.

The white flowers sway in the breeze, the buildings are all pastel ruins, and the sun is high in the lavender sky. Amy is reminded of ancient Greece and she makes a mental note to ask the Doctor if they can go there.

They investigate the ruins because the Doctor is looking for a creature that's not supposed to be here. Amy runs her fingers along the marble-like surfaces and feels an overwhelming sense of peace coming over her. She can hear the sonic but isn't paying attention. Amy is walking forward, being called by some unknown force and she knows the rule; don't wander off! But where's the fun in staying put?

"We're going to have to hurry!" The Doctor says, somewhere behind her, "Darkness falls quickly on this planet!"

Amy feels the stone beneath her feet give way and she lets out an alarmed gasp as she suddenly tumbles with the pastel colored stones. Amy lands on a surprisingly soft surface, coughing, white dust surrounding her and her eyes blink rapidly trying to take in the site around her.

"Amy!" The Doctor calls from above and she looks up but can't see his face. How far did she fall?

"I'm alright!" Amy yells back, her voice echoing. She looks down at the marshmallow type floor and does a small jump, her feet instantly absorbing the shock.  _Well, alright. This isn't some kind of_ _trap...otherwise I'd break all my bones from that fall._

The Doctor puts the sonic in his pocket giving a last look at the ruins before he takes the plunge. "Geronimo!"

Amy takes two steps before she hears the Doctor land behind her, sputtering and then exclaiming how brilliant the floor is. He bounces for a little bit, uses his sonic on it and examines the results. "Brilliant! Just...Oh how I love new planets."

His eyes move to Amy and he sees her standing near a crystallized statue of a monk. There's an altar in the cave, a glowing white slab in the middle of all the statues. She turns to look at him, "They're people. Frozen..." Her eyes go back to the monks' face. He's a cherubic looking man with a pleasant smile on his face.

The Doctor holds his sonic to the monk and then glances at the device, "He's nearly as old as I am!"

Amy sees different faces all around the cave, men, women, elderly and young. No children. All of them held the same pleasant smile on their face.

The Doctor lets out a cry of joy when he sees what is sitting on the altar. It's the creature he was looking for. It looks like an albino porcupine and made a soft humming noise.

"Doctor, can we un-freeze them?"

"Oh, no. They'd be very upset if we did that."

"Why?"

"It's tradition. Once every thousand years, thirty two people come to the ruins and allow themselves to be frozen like this. It's a religious thing. They think it gets them closer to their gods..." He shrugs, busy examining the creature on the altar with his sonic. It's sleeping. Harmless. The Doctor carefully picks it up and then gives a yelp of pain.

Amy spins around and catches sight of the porcupine alien thing scurry off. The Doctor his holding his arms around his stomach. His face is ghostly pale.

"Doctor?" She grabs him by the shoulders and gives him a firm shake to wake him up.

"I'll be fine...we gotta get that thing."

"What is it?" Amy nearly hisses.

"It's a very dangerous creature, just c'mon, I'll explain later!" And that's when the running starts.

Mr. Albino Porcupine is an expert at hide and seek. The cave isn't large but it is littered with gifts, little statuettes, wilted flowers, jewelry and a dozen other things. Amy manages to catch the creature by throwing a blanket over it.

"Brilliant, Pond! How did you know they were blind?" The Doctor says as he crouches down and lulls the creature back into it's stasis with a low frequency on his sonic.

Amy smiles, "Oh...you know. Time traveler intuition."

He grins at her.

They drop off the creature to its rightful planet and it sleeps under a large black and blue tree. "It was hibernating and I disrupted it...that's why it attacked." He explains before shutting the door to the TARDIS. Amy's brow furrows as she looks at the Doctor. His face is still pale as ever, his eyes lacking the luster they usually held, and his boyish grins looks more forced than anything else. His hands tremble.

"C'mon." She grabs him by the arm and drags him to the medical bay.

"It'll pass, Pond." He tells her but she just shoves him into a chair. She rummages though the cupboards until she finds what she thinks might help. It's a small jar of a baby blue colored ointment. She reads the back, "Did it poison you?"

"In a way, yes. The defense mechanism of the creature is to leave it's attacker crippled. Think of a snake bite..." He waves his hand a little, "Not so effective on Time Lords."

"So this stuff should help, yeah?" Amy holds up the jar and the Doctor just gives a weak nod.

It's not at all unpleasant to see the Doctor half-dressed. She sets his shirt and bowtie on the table next to them and scrutinizes the small puncture marks on his stomach. The skin is tinged pink, obviously irritated, but he isn't bleeding. The Doctor squirms when Amy places the first dollop of ointment onto his skin.

"Sorry, forgot to mention that it was kinda cold."

He just gives her a small smirk and then looks away.

The Doctor doesn't say anything, doesn't demand that he can do it himself, or shove Amy's hands away. That darker side of him is smiling, enjoying the feel of her touch, embracing it and savoring it. The good side of the Doctor, the proper side, is wondering when she'll be done and calculating how long those frozen people had been in that cave and if it was the right thing to walk away. Maybe he should go back on the one-thousandth year and see if they've been released.

Amy is focusing. She is most defiantly not giving tiny smiles of delight when his stomach muscles contract or the way his breath hitches when her fingers barely touch his skin.

"All set." The redness has faded and she can see the color coming back into the Doctor's face.

"Good work, Pond. Now I see why you were once a nurse." He says as he straightens his collar and Amy lightly hits his shoulder.

"Oh! Shut up you!"

 

Portal –  _a magical or technological doorway that connects two distant locations_  


He didn't mean to land here. Oh well. All part of the adventure, right? Amy grabs the note from her nightstand, the one with the symbols and letters that made no sense that she just happened to find one day. She tucks it into the pocket of her jacket and joins the Doctor at the doors of the TARDIS.

"Ready, Pond?"

They just share an excited grin.

They are fighting over the sky. The planet they once visited before. The one with the changing lights in the sky, the sky so beautiful, so vibrant, and these two races are fighting over  _who should own it._ The fight is between the centaur and the griffins.

The centaurs are violent, rash, argumentative creatures. At least on this planet, anyways. They demand Amy and the Doctor reveal their true identities as spies. The Doctor assures them, with charm and physic paper, that he and Amy are not spies. The centaurs fight with arrows and their accuracy is stunning. They are also building something, a weapon, "It'll win the war, Doctor. It will end the war and we shall own the sky."

"But why? Why own the sky? Certainty it's big enough to share!" The Doctor's argument falls on deaf ears. Before Amy and the Doctor can find this weapon and destroy it...

The camp is ambushed by the opposing force and Amy and the Doctor are captured. Once again, the griffins assume Amy and the Doctor are allies of the centaurs. (Seriously, why doesn't anyone trust that they're just travelers? )

The griffins have feathers of gold and white. They are quiet, yet fearsome, their talons and beaks tearing apart a stone fortress in merely seconds. They don't say much but they at least tell Amy and the Doctor why there is a war of the sky.

"Our sky is our portal. We can travel using the sky to different planets using it. The centaurs are envious of our flight, they say we cannot have the sky for our own, and they wish to tear it down if they cannot own it." The griffins' leader is at least seven feet tall perched on the ground. His feathers are deep blue and gold.

"They spoke of a weapon. Something that would win them the war." The Doctor says, his voice grim and his face stony.

The griffin leader just nods slowly.

"It's designed to suck in the partials of the sky, a foolish attempt to bring the sky to them, they will only end up destroying us both. My kind..." The leader turns his head to see the small griffin babies prancing around, playing with each other like lion cubs. "We need the sky to live. When the sky eventually fades, we will have left this planet, in search of another with the proper climate and chemicals to allow us to continue living."

"Destroying the sky, destroys you. This isn't just a territory war. It's personal." The weight in the Doctor's voice made Amy wonder how many wars he's seen.

Amy's eyes haven't moved from the griffin cubs.

"You arrived before on this planet, Doctor. You had the codes, the proper equations to destroy the weapon, but you had to run. You had a different face."

The Doctor's slapped his forehead, "Of course! I just..." _don't remember where I put that piece of paper._

The leader lowered his head, his large eyes studying Amy and the Doctor, "If you cannot save us. Who will?"

That's when Amy pulls the paper from her pocket and a small grin plays on her lips, the paper is folded between her two fingers and she holds it in front of the Doctor's face.

"We have a weapon to stop, now don't we?"

His grin is contagious. He kisses her forehead, "Pond! You are marvelous!"

The griffin can sense the affection coming from the Doctor to his companion. Yet, he says nothing.

The centaurs are furious. They fire their arrows upon the Doctor and Amy as they run through the trees, hooves pounding the ground behind them. The Doctor walked into their fortress, with Amy and a griffin by his side, saying the centaurs must negotiate or what falls upon them will be their own doing. The centaurs were stubborn and while they argued with each other and the griffin who came along. Amy and the Doctor found the weapon and destroyed it. It looked like a medieval canon but with more wires and lights and "dangerous beeping noises" as the Doctor said.

"Do they ever stop fighting?" Amy asks when they've shut the TARDIS doors. He's leaning against the door beside her, breathing heavily, and his eyes are terribly sad.

"No."

She's waiting for more to be explained.

"The sky burns out. The griffins use the sky as a portal, escape, possibly find a new world..."

"And the centaurs?"

His silence is all the answer she needs.

The Doctor walks away but Amy grabs his arm rather violent. "Go back."

He stares at her, "Amy, I can't just go back..."

"Then go forward! Save them! We have to. Even if they were creating a weapon to destroy the very planet they lived on, they deserve a second chance, don't they? A chance to learn from their mistakes..."

The Doctor can't save everyone. But, he  _tries_. They return to the planet on the eve of the sky's death. He tries to convince the centaurs that he's only trying to help, if they'll let them. He even goes so far to invite them onto the TARDIS. They are stubborn and hold their grudges. Their bows never stop being drawn and pointed at Amy and the Doctor. He tries to tell them that he can create a portal, one to use like the griffins do, but they say he's lying.

Amy looks up to see the griffins flying into the sky and disappearing into the colors.

She sees the colors start to fade and feels the Doctor's hand entwine his fingers with her own.

"Please, just listen to me! The sky is fading, that's why the griffins are retreating!"

"Nonsense! WE HAVE WON THE WAR!" The centaurs give a roar of approval and excitement.

The sky is black by the time Amy and the Doctor are pushed back into the TARDIS and banned from a planet that will soon crumble.

"I'll go and make you something to eat..." The Doctor says, clasping his hands together, "You must be starving after such a topsy-turvy trip!"

She knows he's trying to lighten the mood. It works, "You can cook?"

"Don't sound so surprised!"

The Doctor is already up the stairs and heading for the kitchen.

 

Quixotic –  _extravagantly and romantically chivalrous ; idealistic_  


She tells him how she liked to study Romans in school and so he takes her to see them, the Romans, in their prime. What they both weren't expecting was Amy to be flirted with by nearly every soldier. To be frank, it's grinding on the Doctor's nerves. Really, there is no need for any of that!

Amy is Amy. So Amy flirts back.

She accepts flowers from a nice Roman boy, accepts a drawing from one of the soldiers, another crafts a poem, some go even as far to ask if she's currently married and even the  _emperor_ invites them to dinner.

The Doctor can't regret the trip too much—since Amy is smiling and having a good time.

One of the senators makes a toast to their guests and that's when the Doctor sees River. He jumps from his chair, "Ah, right sorry." High ranking officials stare at him, "Gotta run."

Amy looks at him, curiously, but she's enjoying the wine and the company too much to jump to her feet as well. Romans. Actual Romans. It's hard to pass it up; hot Italian men in armor.

"River."

"Doctor."

They stare at each other, "Where's Amy?"

The Doctor grins, "Dining with Romans."

River consults her notebook and takes a step back when he tries to peek. "Spoilers." She gives him a smile, but does drop a small hint; "Amelia Pond is up there and she's surrounded by Romans. I think history can take it..."

The Doctor frowns at her enigmatic words.

"Go and get her."

There's a clamor from inside the palace and there's no time for more of River's riddles. The two go down different paths, but the Doctor knows he'll see River again.

The Doctor returns to the dining hall to find that everyone is standing and there's a Roman on the floor, clutching his stomach, and Amelia Pond is standing there with a livid expression. The guards help him to his feet and drag the man away.

"This woman stopped an assassination!" The emperor boasts, raising his glass.

Amy looks at the Doctor, "I did?"

The Doctor's bewildered expression matches her own. Amy had only socked the guy in the gut after he put his hand where it was not allowed while helping her from her chair. Then there was a big commotion and the man helping Amy had dropped a dagger hidden beneath his robes. The Doctor wonders if this will end up in the history books.

They stroll through the gardens, arm in arm, with Amy giggling at his ridiculous stories. True stories. Stories of adventures he's already had.

"So, you were actually knighted and banned on the same evening?"

"Yup."

"And you fought off them off with a water pistol?"

"Well, to be fair, it was only one..." He grins, "But yes, I did."

Amy rests her head on his shoulder, grinning, and walking along the moonlit path. "Why did you jump like that at dinner?"

"I saw River."

Something twists in Amy's gut. There was still a part of her that wondered if River was the Doctor's future wife. If she was, what did that mean for Amy? Was she just some distraction, some plaything until the Doctor's time-line sorted itself out? She wasn't the person the Doctor tells everything to. He trusts her, she knows that, she feels that, and he cares about her enough to want her to remember Rory and she can feel the chemistry between them. Come to think of it, he's been rather...different...since she remembered Rory. A little more restrained, putting more distance between them, keeping her away so that she can grieve and mourn...

He's treating her like glass.

Amy doesn't like it.

He stops walking, uneasy with Amy's silence, and curiously stares down at her. "What? What is it? Am I missing something? Why am I always missing something? Wait, no I'm not..."

"Doctor..." The moonlight illuminates her face in a soft, ethereal glow.

"Yes?"

"Shut up." She grabs the lapels of his tweed jacket and pulls his mouth to her own. By the way he kisses her back, Amy forgets about River and her possibility of being his wife. After all, that's the future and this is now—and it's the now that really matters anyways.

Requiem –  _a song/hymn preformed to remember the desceased_

Amy returns to Leadworth for more clothes and a some stuff she wants to bring onto the TARDIS. He keeps the TARDIS in her backyard and waits for her. She returns with a suitcase in each hand, "I know the wardrobe has plenty of clothes..."

"It's fine, come along, we are wasting time!" He grins, but she notices something different about his eyes. She notices it from time to time when he's remembering someone or something. This time, the held humor and sadness, and Amy places her suitcases on the TARDIS floor.

" _You ain't mating with me, sunshine!"_

"What was her name?" He wants to praise her on her keen awareness of him but, at the same time; is it really a good thing that she knows him and can read him  _this well_?

"Donna." He flips a switch, not seeing the point in lying about it, "Donna Noble. She carried her whole wardrobe in the back of her car just in case she would run into me again."

Amy smiles, joining him by the console, "And she did."

"Yep." The sadness has been chased away from his eyes, "Where are we off to now, Pond?"

He doesn't tell her about every companion. Not until they visit a planet where your thoughts manifest into actual beings. But, they are only shells, like ghosts. Amy thinks about cherry pie and then there it is, floating in front of her, but when she touches it—it disappears. They sit down on a bench, the sky cloudy and overcast above them, and the living creatures walking with their thoughts trailing behind them.

The Doctor just leans back and then people manifest before them, he tells her bits and pieces, things they saw, their names, and where they were now...

By the end of it, Amy's head felt dizzy from all the faces she had seen. He didn't dance over their fates, he was rather blunt about it actually, but he spoke fondly of them all. So many of them had simply grown-up, moved on, chose to leave...others were forced...others died. Amy turns, seeing his face and it's strange angles, his large chin, deep-set eyes, his floppy hair and his boyish smile. A young man's face with an old man's soul. A man bearing the weight of nine-hundred years worth of memories.

Music begins to play over their heads and the faces vanish. The Doctor explains that it's a physic field that creates the images, but they worry that their race will become to focused on their fantasies and not focus on the present. The music silences the thought patterns. It's a sad, deep, mournful song—Amy wants to cover her ears. Instead, she nudges the Doctor's shoulder with her own.

"Can you promise me something?

"Hm?" He's listening.

"When our time is up—oi don't make that face!"

He puts on a grin to replace the frown that pulled at his lips without him realizing it.

"I want you to go back to Leadworth, to my room."

"Why?"

"Can you promise me that?"

"'Course Amy...'course."

"Good." Amy hops to her feet and takes the Doctor's hands with her own, tugging him up from the bench, and he stumbles into a hug. Amy buries her nose in the scratchy fabric of his jacket, breathing in his warm scent.

"Let's go." He mummers breaking the tender embrace.

After all, they've got all of time and space to explore...

 

Need –  _something required ; to want strongly_  


It was entirely her fault, you know. Amy went into the library and to her luck, the swimming pool was open and ready for her. He had found some new and fascinating thing, he wasn't sure what it did yet, but it made 'bing' noises when he pointed it at stuff. It wasn't his timey-wimey detector. This was something new, something old, something he had forgotten about or misplaced. He ran into the library to show Amy and he dropped the device onto his foot. A short curse escapes his mouth.

Amy Pond was the most graceful creature he had ever seen. The Doctor chokes on his words as Amy resurfaces. "Amy!" He searches his brain to find something to say, something to tell her, "I found your favorite book!" She just blinks at him.

"You know...your...ah...just nevermind..." He lost his words when she pulled herself out of the water.

"Which one?" Amy asks, searching for the towel that she could have sworn she left by the beanbag chair.

"Pandora's box." A smile spreads across her face. He knows it was her favorite fairy-tale from her childhood. Amy Pond is his favorite fairy-tale. Period. He goes down one of the aisle to find it for her, not expecting Amy to follow him, but she does. She catches his arm mid-stride and asks him one simple question, "You really don't know where it is, do you?"

She's right. She could see right through his quickly-created bluff. He does the first thing that comes to mind when he sees Amy looking at him like that.

The Doctor cups the side of her face as he kisses her. Amy wants this, wants him, all of it. She clings to his jacket and presses herself against him, urging him. Her back bumps into the shelf and a few books fall to the floor. They go unnoticed by the two time travelers. "Come with me." He whispers as his lips part from hers. He takes her hand to lead the way and Amy doesn't regret a single step.

It's an observatory. Amy isn't even sure if there is glass above their heads. The carpet is plush beneath her feet and that's when Amy realizes; "I'm soaking wet!"

"Yes, you are." He lets go of her hand and sits in the middle of the circular room. Amy joins him after a half-second internal debate. He points to various constellations, tells her where a handful of planets are, tells her where Earth is (very, very far) and while she listens; her hunger for him is subdued.

His hand rests on the small of her back and he walks his fingers up her spine. "If only I could show you them all, Amy..." He says, softly.

"Time machine." She reminds him, tilting her head towards his. She knows that isn't what he meant. The Doctor holds her gaze and his nose brushes against hers. Their kiss is slow and soft, full of tenderness and unspoken words, full of planets not-yet-traveled and stars not-yet-seen.

Her hands curl around his braces and he leans into her, their kiss smoldering like the sun. He wouldn't tell her, but in kissing her, the Doctor can taste every year she's lived. It's a bit of a head rush, actually. She's unlike anything else, she tastes like adventure—don't ask him how it's possible, she's the one who tastes like it.

The Doctor breaks the kiss and his lips move to her throat. He places an open-mouthed kiss to her pulse point and Amy tugs his floppy, chestnut brown hair in response.

"Amy, are you sure about this?" He asks, leveling his eyes with hers. Amy can't believe he's asking a question like that at a time like  _this_.

"Why are you asking?" She raises a skeptical eyebrow, and then an epiphany hits her;"Oh! Can Time Lords not  _do it_? Is that why you said it's been awhile?"

He looks slightly offended for a second, "What? Time Lords are fully—that's not the point! I'm asking because I need to know, Amy. After everything you have been through..."

It's an explanation she should have expected (because it's so very Doctor).

"You know what it's like to lose someone, yeah?"

He just nods.

"And you know how it feels to move on?"

He nods again.

"I want this, Doctor..." Amy holds his face in her hands and kisses him, it's brief, because she wants to say one last thing; "I want you." God, that sounded lame, didn't it? The Doctor doesn't seem to mind because he's kissing her with such enthusiasm it's making her head spin and yeah, it's a little sloppy but Amy doesn't care. She tunnels her fingers through his hair.

"Oh, Amy..." He sighs into her hair, his hands exploring her skin greedily. If he keeps doing that, Amy is going to have a difficult time getting his shirt off, her fingers are already shaking as it is! Her breath hitches as his fingers ghost over a sensitive spot before he takes off her bathing suit top. Amy manages to get his bow tie off, at least.

"Doctor," Her voice is low, husky but there's humor there "I'm not sure how Time Lords shag, but humans usually have their clothes off."

It's messy; between kisses and Amy distracting him, and she broke one of his braces. He tried to scold her about that but, he decided to save it for another time. She was so stunning, so wonderful...words failed him. Stunning, gorgeous, and/or beautiful couldn't even scratch the surface when it came to Amy Pond.

Amy feels like there is an electrical storm beneath her skin everywhere he touches her. There's fire too, like fire and lightening colliding. A maelstrom under her skin and swirling through her veins. He finds her scars, her freckles (and he kisses them), he finds her ticklish spots and the spots that make her arch and moan. He really likes to do this thing where his lips or hands just ghost over her skin. It's such a light touch, barely there, but it makes Amy squirm. The Doctor takes his time, enjoying the sight of her, drinking it all in, feeling her and tasting her.

Amy can't find any scars on his pale skin, she does find a ticklish spot, and she finds that he makes a soft purr when she nibbles on his earlobe. Her skin is flushed and her body is shivering with delight, anticipation, and Amy feels like she might just burst. She takes back whatever she said about Time Lords not being able to shag. Amy's body is trembling as he enters her and his name is a gasp on her lips. The Doctor lets out a muffled groan on the skin of her shoulder. Amy's fingers flex and tighten their grip, her nails digging into his back. Neither of them move. The Doctor is relishing the feeling of Amy around him and she's grasping onto reality—yes, this is really happening, this isn't a dream, it's too  _good_ to be a dream. He moves and her whole world just shatters into a million little star-shaped pieces. That building storm under her skin has been ignited and Amy urges him, encourages him, with sounds escaping from her throat. The Doctor keeps muttering her name in between kisses and his hypnotizing groans.

"Amy, look at me..." His voice is weak and breathless, like he just ran around through the interior of the TARDIS-twice and then some.

She just does it because he asked and partly because she  _does_  want to see him. Her hazel eyes meet his, and then, she's coming, clenching around him, her shattered world coming back together again as the storm quakes through her body. She faintly hears the Doctor cry out her name in his release.

They lay together in silence for some time until Amy registers the stars around them.

"Doctor..." Her mind is having trouble forming coherent thoughts, "The room's changed."

"Ah..." He sweeps back her hair with his hand, admiring the fiery locks in the star light. "She's a bit of a romantic."

Amy looks around; the walls were gone, windows remained and then she saw the curtains pulled back. This room had no walls. Only windows. Amy could see every star in the galaxy, winking at them, casting their tiny fires out into the darkness. She smiles, feeling the Doctor's lips brush against her temple as they laid curled against each other.

The Doctor tilts his head to meet her eyes and opens his mouth to say  _something_. Something very important. Something he felt she should hear...but at the same time...he's afraid to say it. A coward to the last iota in his being. The Doctor shuts his mouth.

His ancient eyes look up at the stars; "There's a planet not too far from here. Two moons, carnivorous orchids though...so we may have to avoid the gardens. But they are  _so_  lovely in the spring time."

Amy wonders what he was going to say and she's got a feeling that she knows...she knows he wasn't going to talk about some planet that they were going to visit.

She'll get it out of him eventually if she doesn't end up saying it first. But, maybe it's something that doesn't need to be said because; why say it? When it is already  _known_.


	4. story to wizard

Story -  _narrative: a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events._  


When Amelia Pond was growing up, she had her stories—they were the adventures that would start once the Doctor returned. She sat in her room and drew and wrote and dreamed...

Amelia Pond, ten years old, sat on the end of her bed with her dolls and toys as her audience. She held up the blue cardboard box she had created, bright blue and held together with tape and glue. "So, the TARDIS shot through the sky..." She flew the TARDIS over her stuffed animals heads.

"And the Doctor knew what to do but they ended up crash landing! Boosh!" The TARDIS fell onto her bed. Amelia climbed off her bed to grab her Doctor and the doll of herself. "Amelia and the Doctor climbed out of the smoldering box and onto the unknown planet."

She walked the dolls across her bed, "The place was bare and all too quiet." Amelia said in a deep, scary voice. "But, the sky was beautiful. You could see every star in the whole galaxy! The Doctor and Amelia needed to find somewhere to stay because the TARDIS needed to fix itself and it was too dangerous."

Amelia climbed back onto her bed, "But! They were not alone!" She brought out a dinosaur toy from behind her back and mimicked the stomping noise. "Dun Dun Dun! Amelia and the Doctor weren't scared...even though they had to run away." The dolls ran to the end of the bed, "A dead end! Amelia shouted, looking at the Doctor."

She moved the dolls so they faced the dinosaur. "The Doctor took Amelia's hand and pointed his sonic at the dinosaur." She paused for emphasis. "The dinosaur suddenly fell over-" She dropped the toy with a dramatic dinosaur cry. "Raaauuughh."

"The Doctor didn't kill him, because the Doctor is there to help. So Amelia and the Doctor go up to the dinosaur." She moved the dolls to the dinosaur's side.

"And the Doctor tells Amelia that this dinosaur is the last of his kind and he was just scared...and lonely...and didn't mean to chase them..." Amelia pets the dinosaur's head, "And the Doctor lets the dinosaur go..."

Amelia props the TARDIS back up, "By the time they reach the TARDIS it's fixed, but Amelia is sad—she feels bad for the creature. So they go to the dinosaur's home planet several years in the past and grab an egg." She places a small, red bouncy ball on the bed.

"They bring the egg back to the planet they had crashed on. The dinosaur is very thankful because he's not alone anymore." She puts the egg beside the dinosaur and rests the creatures against her knee so he stays up straight on her bed. "Amelia and the Doctor leave the planet for the last time. He takes her hand and asks her; 'Now Amelia, where would you like to go next?"

The stuffed animals stare at Amelia with their beady little eyes as she tells her stories of Amelia Pond and the Doctor. There is another audience member as well, but she stands in the hallway leaning against the wall, and she listens without making a sound.

Amelia is starting another story for her crowd. Aunt Sharon runs her hands over her face, she is tired and she is at a loss on what to do with Amelia. The teachers call about the 'raggedy doctor' and how Amelia's imagination can distract her from school work.

Aunt Sharon returns to the kitchen and looks at the number posted on the refrigerator for a long time. It's the number to the physiologist the school recommended. "They're only stories..." Sharon tells herself as she pulls on her jacket, "No harm in stories."

 

Trihoral -  _happening every three hours_  


"Here we are!" The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors with a flourish.

"Which is where?" Amy replies, expecting him to launch off into lecture mode. The Doctor barely gets the planet's name off his lips when a girl, young (11 years old, at least) comes running up to them carrying a bright ruby-red umbrella. Amy looks up and sees a taupe colored sky but it doesn't look like it'll rain anytime soon.

"Doctor." The girl is breathless, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes with soft pink iris's are wide. Her bouncy, blonde curls are held back by a black headband.

The Doctor beams, "Yes, that's me and this is-"

"Amy Pond." The girl finishes, "We met. About two hours and fifty-eight minutes ago in the past, my time stream, the future for yours." The girl looks at small watch around her thin wrist, "Okay. I'll be over there on that street corner."

"What's going on?" The Doctor asks, worried suddenly, because this girl who ran up to them is checking her watch nervously and her eyes look close to tears.

"Say Peonies. When my mum and I read about Earth, that was her favorite plant."

A clock chimes loudly and then everything goes in reverse. With the exception of the Doctor and Amy Pond. Their eyes meet and the Doctor starts explaining in a hurried fashion as they cross the street. "The planet is stuck in a time-loop."

"Yeah, I figured that much."

"So!" The Doctor clasped his hands together, "We gotta figure out why and how to fix it."

The clock chimes again and suddenly every one is acting completely normal. The planet, at least where the Doctor landed the TARDIS, is this big open flea-market area. The streets are made of small pebbles and stones, everyone is walking everywhere, and it's a mixed planet. Amy sees people who look human or may possible be human, then she sees aliens with a lot of fur, or three arms, or a giant slug. Oooh a giant slug. Avoid those. They insulted their queen that one time...

The young girl who ran up to them is indeed at a street corner with a bundle of magazines in her hands. "Hello!" She greets them warmly, but not like she knows them.

"I'm the Doctor."

"That's a funny sort of name, ain't it?"

Amy jabs his side with her elbow with a grin on her face.

"I'm Amy Pond."

"You're not from around here..." The girl returns to setting up the magazines on their shelves. One headline reads;  _'I'm in love with a space octopus'_

The Doctor and Amy exchange a glance before Amy looks 'round and says;

"You wouldn't happen to sell any peonies, would you?"

The girl fumbles with her magazines and sets them on the floor. She turns, her face serious, and looks at Amy and the Doctor. "No, you wouldn't find any here. I suggest talking to Mr. Biggs. He runs most of the shops around here..."

She points to a cart with a red curtain surrounding it and the Doctor takes Amy's arm and angles her towards him. "Amy..." His eyes dart around for a moment, "If we don't get this right, there is a chance that the whole reality of this planet will collapse."

Amy gives a nervous little laugh, "No pressure or anything, eh Doctor?"

He smiles and they continue to their next lead. Mr. Biggs—who is, not very big at all. He's sitting down but even so, Amy doesn't think his head would reach her kneecap. His cart surrounded by the curtain is full of wires and monitors. He's a pudgy sort of fellow with big, thick glasses.

"Hullo!" The Doctor greets cheerily, Mr. Biggs doesn't look up, doesn't even acknowledge that they are there.

"Oi!" Amy barks and jumps nearly three feet in the air sitting down.

"Yes?...Oh. I recognize you. You just got here, yes. Hm. Bit of a problem though. I'm afraid—do you have proper clearance to be on this planet—and do you have proper currency to shop in our markets?"

The Doctor reaches into his jacket and holds out the physic paper, "I need some help Mr. Biggs. We're here on official business, top priority, and we heard you're the man to go to."

folds his chubby little hands across his lap, "Very well then, Mr. & Mrs. Pond." The Doctor makes a strangled noise at the back of his throat and drops the physic paper, looks at it, and then stuffs it back into his jacket. Amy just smirks and shakes her head.

**Crrunnnzzzzssshhhh**

The ground does a little shake and the noise that cuts through the marketplace is harsh to their ears. The Doctor looks at for an explanation. He sighs and unfolds his hands, looking from who he thinks are Mr and Mrs Pond.

"Proper annoying, that is. But construction should be finished in the next..." he checks his pocket watch, "Two and a half hours, they said!"

"What are they constructing?" The Doctor asks, one hand on his hip as he leans forward slightly with interest.

"Oh. It's big news, really. A new sort of barrier for the planet due to the asteroid storm we are getting today. Our barriers have been just fine—but you know—politics. Who can build a better shield and all that..." He shakes his head, looking back at his monitors, seemingly done with the conversation here.

The pieces click in the Doctor's head and he looks at Amy. So much time together has put her on the same page as him; he's not sure if that excites him or terrifies him and maybe it's a little of both. "So that's it then." Amy says as they run down the pebbled street.

"The new barrier must be affecting the planet's time. Somehow. I'll sonic it once we get to see it. How much time to we have Pond?"

Amy looks at a tall, streetlamp-part-clock as they run by, "Two hours."

The Doctor laughs; "You can do a lot in two hours!"

Like, save a whole planet, for instance. It takes a little asking around to find where the construction is taking place and they should have figured it was the chiming noise from earlier. It wasn't actually a clock—but a big flashy-knobby-swirly thing that just has DOCTOR written all over it.

The Doctor is sonic-ing it, checking readings, and that's when Amy sees the huddle of children getting umbrella's.

"What are those for?" She's asks a construction worker with four arms. "It's not going to rain, is it?"

The work shakes his head, muttering; "tourists." Amy is about to glare at him when he starts talking again, "It's superstition. Anyone without an umbrella will get hit by a space rock. Kids do it, I dunno what else you want me to tell you."

Amy recognizes a girl in the crowd. Her blonde curl held away from her face by a black headband. She doesn't have an umbrella. "Doctor? Do you have a quid?"

The sonic stops whirring, "What?" He looks up at her, his face in complete and utter confusion. Amy repeats the question. This time she points to the girl who was organizing magazines earlier and how she is the only child out of the group who is missing an umbrella. "Even if I did, Amy. I don't think they'd accept it."

The sonic starts whirring again. "Aha!" He exclaims but, Amy is already half-way across the street.

"Hi."

The blonde looks at her. "Amy, right?"

She nods and looks at all the umbrella's for sale. "I'm Henri." Amy stands beside her as she looks at the umbrella's but doesn't make any move to purchase one. Amy casts a look back at the Doctor and he is flailing his hands while trying to explain  _something_ to the various workers.

Amy picks up a red umbrella, identical to the one she saw Henri carrying when they first met, and she passes it to the small girl. The owner of the umbrella stand glares at her and opens his second mouth in between his eyes, but Amy is quick—and smart; "I work for Mr. Biggs. If you want paperwork, my...friend over there has it." She nods in the direction of the Doctor.

The owner is quiet for a moment. "Get goin' before the storm hits."

Henri looks up at Amy who is much, much taller than she is. "Thank you. I'll make it up to you."

"No need. You see that blue box over there? Just meet me and my friend there when you see us."

Henri just smiles and Amy watches as the girl runs off.

"The barrier dissolves the asteroids, these aren't pebbles we're walking on..." The Doctor sonics the ground, "They are bits of asteroids that didn't get fully dissolved." the Doctor turns back to the machine, "And! This machine was set to slow down time—once the asteroids passed through so that the citizens could have time to...Amy?" He turns and finds that the redhead is nowhere to be seen.

**CRUUUZZNHHH**

The machine makes a disgusting, gear grinding, ground-shaking noise and starts to spark. "Oh no no no! Don't do that!" The Doctor shouts, throwing his tweed jacket over the small flame. Amy Pond is standing beside a grandfather clock settled in the middle of the marketplace. She doesn't know why, but something made her walk to it.

The clock struck two. One hour left.

The chime was jarring, off-key, and low.

"Oh no." Someone whispers beside her. The sky turns black all of a sudden and Amy can see orange lights bursting the in the sky. Then everyone is running for cover in this wide open space and Amy can feel her heart hammering in her chest as she runs back to the Doctor.

Hopefully he could fix it in time.

The Doctor pulls his smoking tweed jacket off the machine, the only light he has is from the burning orange in the sky and the glow of his sonic. "NO!" He shouts, kicking the machine. "Ow ow ow."

"Doctor!" Amy shouts just as the first impact is made. Amy is jerked to the ground, falling on her knees, dust and dirt flying past the two of them. She gets back up to her feet and she can see the shape of the Doctor in the short distance.

The Doctor is fumbling with the wires. "I can change it. Stupid bloody thing. Who knows if it could even work in the first place!" There's another spark and he can feel Amy at his side. He looks at her and she just yells; "What can I do to help?"

"We cause the time-loop. This time, we'll be at the heart of it; it's a sickening feeling—but I know how to fix this thing in time..." The sonic whirrs to life again, somehow its sound is able to cut through every other sound around them; the wind, the explosions, the shouts, and the terror.

Amy takes his arm, "Ready Pond?"

"GERONIMO!"

Amy feels like her body is splitting in half but, she can still feel his arm beneath her palm. That is comforting, at least. Her feet touch solid ground again and she takes in a big breath. Oh god, she might be sick. She can see Henri running towards them. "I brought us back to when we first arrived. Two minutes before the time-loop."

The machine chimes and then everyone goes in reverse again. Except for the Doctor and Amy. They follow the same steps, say the same things (de-ja-vu much?), but the Doctor reaches the machine much faster this time. The sky turns an opaque purple just as the orange lights appear in the sky. The beam is shooting out of the machine and into the sky—and most of the citizens are holding onto umbrellas.

The asteroids go through the barrier and turn to dust.

"That was the longest three hours of my life." Amy mutters and the Doctor curls his arm around her waist, Amy didn't even realize she was swaying, but she leans her weight against his. "You're just a little time-sick, Pond. It'll pass." He mummers, affection laced in his tone. They wait until the storm ends and then they're back on the TARDIS...

Time to start another adventure.

 

Ultramarine –  _deep blue, a vivid blue to purple-blue color._  


The TARDIS is magnificent. Wonderful. A world of dreams inside a bright blue box. She's also moody, a motherly figure and a constant companion to the Doctor, and the TARDIS is upset today. Why?

The Doctor runs his fingers over the burn mark on her side. The TARDIS could just fix it herself but she is being stubborn. While they were leaving that last planet, an asteroid hit the side of the TARDIS and nearly knocked them off course. The TARDIS hums loudly; the Doctor can feel her anger. She's scolding him for not flying her properly.

The Doctor leans his head against the side of the TARDIS, "Sorry." He mutters and he can feel that he's quickly forgiven. Which is sort of funny, since the TARDIS can hold a grudge if she wants to, but she's letting him off the hook.

"Do ya think this is the right color?" Amy asks from behind him. He didn't even hear her leave the TARDIS. She's standing in the grass, barefoot, with a can of paint beside her right leg. Amy can feel the TARDIS press on her temple,  _fondness, affection, adoration,_ are the words that flood into her head.

"What a brilliant idea! We'll give the ol' girl a spot of new paint and she'll look good as new!" The Doctor says, rolling up his sleeves, as his jacket was inside. He doesn't ask Amy where she found the paint because she must have found it in the TARDIS. They're parked on a hillside in Ireland in the middle of nowhere—it wasn't like she took a walk to hardware store.

Amy passes over a brush and the Doctor starts talking about the paint, "Ultramarine, eh? Did you know that it's the most complex of the mineral pigments?" He says as a blue stroke of paint covers the black scorch mark. The Doctor continues to ramble not stopping the paint as it drips from putting too much on his brush.

Amy paints beside him, their strokes crossing over each other and it's not even that pretty of a job. His elbow keeps bumping into hers.  _'Well, this is kinda boring...'_ Amy thinks as she dips her brush into the paint bucket again- _'mischief, elation...'_ Amy looks at the TARDIS and then she realizes what the girl is talking about. Amy smiles and sets her brush down in the grass.

"Oi, Doctor? Do you like the color?"

The Doctor doesn't turn from what he's doing. "What? Of course! It's a fantastic color!" Amy dips her hand into the bucket and flings a glob of paint the Doctor. He doesn't move for a second which Amy uses to her advantage by cheekily saying, "The color looks good on you, Doctor." The paint has landed on his collar of his shirt and it's splattered a bit on the side of his face and it's creeping down his neck.

"Really? I always thought green was more my color." He says, his brush falling to the grass and both his hands are in the bucket a second after. Amy runs away, laughing madly and the paint can is knocked over as the Doctor bolts after her.

The TARDIS hums with amusement.

Amy  _may_  have let the Doctor catch her. They've toppled over each other in a pile of limbs, wet paint, and warm grass. The Doctor doesn't even realize what he's doing as he covers Amy in hand prints and streaks of blue. He was sure that his first intention was just to get her back...

Her back is covered in blue splotches, her bare legs, there's a streak of drying paint on her cheek. But, they can't stop laughing. The Doctor has his forehead on her shoulder; he's leaning over her, his elbows resting in the grass and keeping himself upright.

Amy is the first to slowly quiet down and she lazily pokes his cheek with her paint-coated finger. The Doctor turns his head to look at her and he quiets down. A soft chuckle escapes her lips but, that's for a whole other reason; the Doctor is a combustible force and she's the spark that ignites it.

Her arms curl around his neck as his lips nuzzle against her throat.

His hands, still sticky from the paint, but not as wet travel along her sides. The Doctor should be saving planets, he should be traveling, not rolling around in the grass with Amelia Pond. Amy kisses him, teeth giving a light tug to his lower lip—and all thoughts of  _'what he should be doing'_  suddenly escape his mind.

It's sunset when they return to the TARDIS. She's like a mother waiting up with the porch light on. The Doctor picks up the empty paint can and follows Amy back inside. He can't help but thinking that the TARDIS planned this somehow. She's a cheeky ship, isn't she? The TARDIS just hums pretending to be oblivious.

 

Vertigo –  _dizziness: a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall._  


He looks down from the top of the skyscraper. Amy is clutching the railing as she peers down, red hair falling and framing her face, her body perched precariously; and the Doctor keeps waiting for the moment to grab her and pull her back. Amy takes in a deep breath of the city, it's all blackness and little tiny lights below them, and the moon is hidden by the clouds and the buildings.

For the first time in her adventures with the Doctor; she sees how small they all are. She, of course, cannot tell the Doctor this. He'll go off into a ramble about how brilliant and wonderful human beings are, how all it takes is one to start a revolution—Amy tilts her head to look at him. The wind is tossing around his hair making it more wild and unkempt than usual.

"What are you thinking about?" She asks him.

"How quiet it is." The Doctor answers cryptically. "Come along, Pond." He takes her hand and pulls her away from the ledge.

_Silence will fall_

The Doctor paces around the console. Amy is resting and he thinks about their adventures, and he thinks of how it ends;  _how it always ends_ and that makes his stomach churn. The Doctor turns a knob with excessive force and the TARDIS hums sharply at him.

"Sorry." He grumbles. This is why he needs planets to save, places to run, because when he's alone in his TARDIS—it's his never-forgetting mind that bothers him. It's his past that lingers and eats away at him. He can look at his old companions and feel such pride at what they have achieved. Then, he looks at himself, and sees what he's always been; a lonely, madman with a box.

He's not sure how he ended up standing in front of Amy's door, but he is. The Doctor places his palms on the wood and bows his head so his forehead is just barely touching. Amy is asleep, his ship assures him. But, he doesn't walk into the room like he wants to. He wants to brush her hair away from her face and kiss her forehead and tell her;  _Pond, it will be different. You'll see. You're different, you are special...my magnificent, impossible Amelia Pond._

Amy feels like she'll be sick but, she keeps walking along the narrow path. The whole planet is crumbling at her feet. "Amy! AMY!" The Doctor is behind her, shouting, yelling so loud she wonders if his vocal chords could snap. She doesn't look back—she can't. If she does, she could lose her balance.

"Amy!" The Doctor clutches the collapsed railing as he watches her take step-by-careful-step. "Amy!" The ground gives another shake and Amy takes in a deep breath, steadying herself, and inches forward.

_Don't look back. Don't look down. Just keep your eyes forward. Eyes on the prize, Pond._

Amy jumps just as the ground she's walking on crumbles into dust. "Hello." She says with a smile, her hand extending to the small child. The child stares at her before taking her hand. Amy looks back for the first time, a giant gap of nothingness between herself and the Doctor.

"What are you standing there for, you dolt! Go and get the TARDIS!" She yells and he smiles at her. End of the world...and the Doctor smiles. The child doesn't understand what a TARDIS is, he only knows that a red haired woman and her bow tie friend saved him. Amy brushes the dirt off his blonde head and lets go of his hand. He runs to his mother who is in line at the evacuation ships. He looks back at the two and hugs his mother around the waist.

"Pond." The Doctor's voice is grim and serious. Amy stares at him, their faces covered in dirt, and her body is shaking from left over adrenaline. He wants to tell her, how dangerous it was, how he  _could have lost her_ , but instead—she throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly.

The Doctor is falling through space and time but, when he's with her—he has something to grasp onto. Amy buries her nose into the crook of his neck, "When I saw him standing there, all alone, I knew I couldn't leave him."

The Doctor's arms wind around her waist and he lets her fall into him completely. She doesn't need to explain herself to him. They couldn't save the whole planet, but they could save that one child—and somehow that evens the score. (It really doesn't, but it is a nice thought.)

"It's okay, I'm here. I'm right here." Amy says, her fingers smoothing the hair away from his face. The Doctor closes his eyes at her touch. Amy touches her forehead against his, his breath warm on her lips and his grip strong and comforting around her.

When she stood on that narrow path and walked; she wasn't thinking about what could have happened. (And that was selfish, reckless, and stupid; and she knows that). This very old and very kind man in front of her, who brings her to beautiful and terrible places, this man who took her away from a boring life and put starlight in her eyes. The Doctor.

He needs her; not like air or sunshine, but like gravity. (otherwise he might just float forever in the sea of stars).

Amy thinks about telling him, as they stand there on a dying planet, that she loves him. The Doctor's eyes have opened and his hand is threading through her red waves of hair. Why can't he be ginger? The alarm sounds and the rest of the evacuation ships take off. "Time's up, Pond."

Her eyes flutter open and she can see the walls of the building start to crack and crumble around them.

 

  
_Wizard –_ a man who is said to have magic powers

( it says 'hello sweetie' )

The Doctor runs his hand along the Pandorica.

"I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him."

Amy thinks, as she sits outside, her life teetering on the edge for the billionth time— _he is worth the risks._

Rory joins her soon and he smiles. "So, you remember me then?"

"I do." And she tells him of the planet made of fire, and how they worshiped her because of her hair, and how the high priestess gave her a gem—and then she told Rory about the planet stuck in a time loop, about the time she and the Doctor got covered in alien slime from giant slugs, the planet of darkness and the planet of light; oh and then there was that planet with the changing sky!

Rory just listens.

"This is it then, huh?" Rory says, looking up at all those stars.

"Pardon?"

"If the Doctor can't figure out what's in that box. We're all doomed."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Rory." She hits his shoulder lightly. Rory doesn't understand why she smiles when it could be the end of everything. A little voice in the back of his mind reminds him how long she's been with the Doctor;  _and how much has changed._

( I've seen whole armies turn and run away...)

"Amy! You've got to run." Rory pleads with her.

"No." Amy tells him fiercely, "You're Rory Williams. You're my best friend. I'm not going anywhere."

Rory doesn't think to ask her about their relationship, what it is, and what it's become; there are more pressing issues right now.

" _Listen to me!"_

River picks up the book in Amy's room; Pandora's box. Inside she finds a picture of Rory and Amy.

" _LISTEN TO ME!"_

Amy gasps and the pain is quick, brief, and she falls back. The stars are the last thing she sees.

It isn't fair, Amy thinks, as she sees Rory standing there. He waited 2,000 years—and she still loves the Doctor. Amy embraces him, "I'm so sorry." She whispers and her voice is thick and she's  _this close_ to crying...and Rory smiles against her shoulder.

"Never could compete with a time machine, could I?" His laugh is hollow sounding. But, then the Doctor is beside them, with little Amelia holding his hand.

"Come along, Ponds."

Amy Pond has loved the Doctor since she was seven years old. She wanted to say there was no competition, because you can't compete with a heart that's already taken.

(He wants to talk to you.)

He tells her she has the power to bring her parents back. All that time pouring into her head. Amy wishes he was lying. Her mum, dad, and Rory back; but no him. No imaginary friend.

"The girl who waited...was it worth it?" Amy takes his face in her hands and stares fiercely into his eyes, the Doctor smiles a broken smile at her resolve and her strength and her overall Amy Pond-ness.

"Shut up, of course it was." He can hear the words she wants to say but doesn't. As she looks into his ancient green eyes she can feel every memory igniting in her heart. Every touch, every breath, every laugh, every joke, every moment of running—Amy shuts her wet eyes.

"What about us? The Doctor and Amy Pond?" She asks, her voice coming out a little rough around the edges.

The Doctors' laugh is weak, but he smiles, "We're all stories in the end, Pond."

"Amy! Amy! You need to get back!" River shouts and Amy's hands fall from his face. She takes a step back, River pulling her away and watches as the Doctor shoots up into the sky and obliterates himself—for her, for them, for the world...

(Geronimo!)

_Rewinding my time stream...erasing..._

_But, Amy...she can hear me..._

The Doctor covers her anxious hands with his own and leans his forehead against hers. "Amy..." He's running out of time, he can feel it, but it doesn't stop him. "You need to start trusting me, its never been more important."

"But, you don't always tell me the truth..."

"If I always told you the truth, then I wouldn't need you to trust me."

"The crack in my wall Doctor, how is it here?"

"I don't know yet but I'm working it out. Amy, do you remember what I told you when you were seven?"

"No, what did you tell me?"

He can actually feel his two hearts crumble a bit. The Doctor shuts his eyes for a moment, "No, that's not the point; you have to remember."

The Doctor lets go of her hands and he  _should_  kiss her forehead. A safe place. A gesture of fondness. But, he isn't feeling fondness for Amy Pond. He's feeling the feel of her hands in the dark, the warmth of her breath against his cheek, the touch of freckled skin beneath his palm—fiery red hair winding through his fingers.

The Doctor kisses her then because he wants to. It's quick, but there's nothing chaste about it, and he knows Amy can feel that. He trusts that she remembers. He needs her to remember. He needs her. It's wrong, the guilt settles in his gut when he remembers that Rory is alive again—and they should spend the rest of their life together but, the Doctor is going to be on the wrong side of the universe, he might as well be selfish just this once.

Then he's gone.

"Doctor?...Remember what?"

_The night she waited..._

He sets young Amelia Pond down on her bed and sighs. He tells her the story in hopes to weave it into her mind, his only hope of returning is a seven-year old Amelia Pond asleep in her bed. The Girl Who Waited. "I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind...I hate repeats." The Doctor kisses her forehead, "Bye, bye Pond."

The cracks close. The next time River looks at the diary she owns (she isn't sure why), the pages are blank.


	5. it always ends

Xenium _\- gift made to a guest or ambassador; any compulsory gift._  


_His voice was soothing, soft, and his hand traveled along her hip. "Pond..." Amy turned her head to hide her face in the skin of his neck. She could breathe in his scent and it swirled around her; "My Raggedy Doctor..." She could feel his breath on her hairline._

Amy opened her eyes; the mourning light flooding in from her window. It wasn't the first time she had a dream of her imaginary friend; the Raggedy Doctor. Still...was it normal to have such vivid dreams?

Amy propped her head up on her elbow and smiled, her body warm under the covers of her very soft bed.

"Amelia!" Her mother came into her room, smiling, "Your father made breakfast."

"Mum!...You're my mum!" Amy couldn't understand why that was so surprising.

"Of course I am, Amy! Are you feeling alright?" Amy hugged her mother after she set the tray down on her bed.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Everything's fine!" Amy looked over at her closet and for some reason she was expecting a wedding dress there. But no, a blue, deep blue dress was hanging up. Amy stared at it. Why did she think there was going to be a wedding dress? She looked at her hand; no ring.

"Amelia?"

"What day is it?"

Her mother gave her a stern look and then felt her forehead, "Honey, it's Rory's wedding day. Remember?"

Amy gasped and shut her eyes tightly as her mind was suddenly assaulted with memories; things she forgot? How could she forget?

" _So, I met someone." Rory said with a shy smile._

" _Ohhhhhh?" Amy nudged him with her elbow. They walked side by side down the park and Amy held in her hands a plastic bag filled with bread crumbs for the ducks._

" _Amy, you just have to believe for twenty minutes..." Who...who said that? The Doctor. The Doctor had said that in one of her dreams. But why did he say that?_

" _Amy, I'm sorry..." Rory said, as he cupped Amy's face in his hands._

" _You want the stars, Amy—and I can't give them to you." Amy cried and Rory hugged her. They were only nineteen, a relationship that had lasted three years and a friendship that had formed when she was just seven. In the end, it had been Amy's love for the Doctor and her heart that wanted to travel and see the world; while Rory was happy here. She couldn't or wouldn't grow up; not even for him._

"Amelia? Amy? Are you okay?" Her mother's worried face returned to view. "You're crying, sweetheart." Her mother wipes away her tears and hugs her; though, she didn't know why exactly. She just knew that her daughter needed comfort.

"I'll be downstairs in a little bit..." Amy says with a smile. Her mom smooths her hair and then leaves. Amy falls back onto her bed and stares up at the ceiling. She thinks about calling Rory. She thinks about the Doctor. She thinks about the all-too-real dreams she has. She thinks about the blue dress over there. Amy closes her eyes;  _green, ancient eyes. But so very, very kind and he's lanky...all limbs, really. But there's a certain hidden athleticism...like a swimmer or a runner. He's no twig. With a flop of chestnut brown hair and a big chin and deep-set eyes. His hands are pianist hands. Thin lips._

"How can I describe a person that's 'imaginary' so damn well?" Amy asks the air. The air doesn't respond.

There's a great big  _thing_ missing and she feels like it's right in front of her;  _but she just can't remember!_

Her phone rings; "Hello?"

"Where are you?" It's a female voice, one that Amy doesn't recognize. She—whoever she is—keeps talking, "Rory! It's bad luck to see the bride, if you take one step in this room; we aren't having any children!"

" _What's her name, then?" Amy says, tossing the bread into the lake. Rory kicks at a stone with his shoe, "Nina."_

" _She nice?"_

" _She's something." Amy laughs and tosses another handful as the ducks start to congregate and dip their little heads into the water. It's been two years since they broke up and they managed to remain friends. He was her only true friend, after all. It hurt at first, it hurt so much, just to be in the same room. Then it got better. Day by day, month by month, and now it was like nothing changed._

" _She's...loud...funny, though. Very determined, driven..."_

_Amy rolled her eyes, "Rory, I asked you about her! I'm not asking for a resume!"_

_Rory laughed a little nervously. Oh, he was always this way when it came to girls. Amy handed him some bread._

"Amy? Aim-eehhh? Hello?" Amy blinked out of it. Nina—she was talking to Nina. Rory's soon-to-be-wife.

"Right, sorry, you were saying?"

"That I would like my maid of honor to not be late for the wedding." Nina said with a smile. Amy clamored off her bed and took the dress down, cradling the phone between her shoulder and her ear,

"I'll be there soon."

Rory kissed her cheek when she arrived and hugged her tenderly. "You look great, blue...it looks good on you."

"That's ultramarine, Rory. The bluest of blues." Jeff says with a grin. Rory glares and his arms fall away from Amy.

"I know my colors, Jeff."

"Oi! Come off you two, this is a celebration! No bickering." Amy says wagging her finger at the both of them. Amy smiles and heads off to see Nina. They were good friends, Amy remembers. At first, Nina was reluctant because Amy was Rory's ex-girlfriend and they still hung out.

_Nina confronted Amy, "Why didn't it work out between you and Rory?"_

_Amy nearly choked on her tea. "We..." Amy stared at the brown liquid, "I'll have to tell you a story, if you can handle it..."_

_Nina nodded and Amy told her about her imaginary friend, the raggedy doctor, and how he crashed landed in her backyard. She finished her story by saying; "Rory wants a life in Leadworth, he wants a family and quiet, simple, pleasures. And I want to go places, Nina. I want to go back to Scotland. I want to see the pyramids and the northern lights. There's no way I could settle down."_

" _Why don't you go then?" Nina asked, surprising her._

_Amy looked at her cup of tea again as if she was searching for the answers. "I'll go. I just have to pick a place to start."_

After Nina had talked to her, their friendship blossomed. Really, how could she have forgotten things like this? It didn't make sense. She had pictures of herself and Nina on her wall. They celebrated Halloween at her house, Rory was a Roman, she went as police woman and Nina dressed like Cleopatra.

"Nervous?" Amy asks as she walks into the dressing room. Bridesmaids and family members are moving in and out of the room and Nina is standing in the center having her dress zipped up.

Nina smiles, "Are you? I heard that Rory invited that cute doctor." Nina says, referring to a doctor who has a little crush on their Amy. Granted, the boy only saw Amy once but it was enough for him to beg Rory to invite him.

"Which cute doctor?" Amy plops down in a chair, her dress puffing out around her, "That hospital has a lot of cute doctors." Nina's blonde, curly hair is piled up on top of her head. Her smile is small but Amy happily smiles back.

Even if her heart is confused and her head feels like there is a great big hole in it; she's still going to have a good time. "Oh, Nina. This came for you." Says one of the girls as she hands Nina a little blue book. Nina looks at it, flips through it, and tosses it to Amy.

"Hold on to it for me, what a bizarre wedding gift."

"Ohh maybe it's from aunt Myrtle? She's a bit loose in the head." Asks one of the nieces, her face thoughtful.

 

Yapp -  _limp leather binding in which cover overlaps edges of book_  


Amy stares at the book in her hands. It feels like it's buzzing her hands. She flips through it just like Nina had. Blank. Blank. Blank. The color matches her dress. It matches something else too...what does it match...Amy shuts her eyes.

She hears a bit of a conversation as someone leaves the room; "Now, Timothy. Stay there. Don't leave!-" the rest of the woman's words are cut off as the door shuts and Amy feels like her brain has been chucked down a tunnel.

_Amy pressed her lips against his and his hands dug into her back. She tossed her head back as his lips touched her throat; he was muttering, she could only catch bits, 'magnificent, impossible' seemed to be a common compliment. She could see stars even as she closed her eyes. "Pond." His breath hot in her ear and Amy grasped his shoulders, her eyes meeting his green ones—or were they hazel? "Never leave." He whispers before kissing her again._

( It's all so vivid, so real, how could those be dreams? Day-dreams? Stories in my head? )

_We're all stories in the end._

Amy gasps as someone touches her shoulder. She almost had it! Right there, in the corner of her mind, the thought was there. She fumbled to catch it but it was gone. "Come on." Nina says, her brown eyes soft.

"Who dropped this off?" Amy asks one of the bridesmaids as they walk. She holds up the blue book. The young girl frowns and tries to remember.

"If I see her, I'll point her out, okay?"

Amy just nods; it's all she can do. She's got a wedding to attend.

 

Zero Hour –  _the time set for the start of an action ; crucial event_  


"Amy do you have the book?" Nina asks, turning to the redhead.

"See, Rory? Isn't this the strangest gift?" Rory turns it over in his hand and flips through it. He looks at his new bride and Amy; who are expecting him to say something. Do they not get it?

"It makes sense."

"What?" They reply in unison and then laugh.

Rory passes the book over to Nina, who just hands it back to Amy, "You can keep it. I have plenty of notebooks at home."

"Thanks." Amy holds the book in her hands.  _Why is this important? Why do I feel like I need to have this in my hands? Why do I feel like it was supposed to come to me and not Nina?_

"Oh there she is!" The bridesmaid says next to Amy, the one who said she'd point out the mysterious gift-giver. The girl points and Amy follows her hand—a woman walks by the window. She's got a small smile on her face. Blonde hair.  _Hello, sweetie._

"You know the saying? The...old wedding saying." He clears his throat, "Something old..."

_Something old..._

_Something new..._

_Something borrowed..._

_Something blue..._

"Shut up." Amy says quickly. She's got it. She's not letting the thought escape her now. The great big hole in her head. She sees a man wearing a bow tie. Suspenders. She looks down at her very blue dress.

"Amy, what is it?" Nina asks and Amy stands up. She's already half-way across the room when Nina and Rory jump up to follow her.

"I remember." Amy says, standing outside, her cheeks wet with tears. "I remember you! I remember! You were never imaginary, you were real, you  _are_ real. Raggedy man, I remember you!"

Nina reaches out and delicately places her hand on Amy's elbow.

"Amy?"

"It's something old..."

The wind suddenly gusts and Nina's hair is loosened from its clips. A birdhouse hanging from it's tree is knocked down.

"Something new..."

Some of the guests have left the reception to see what all the fuss is about outside.

"Something borrowed..."

Rory clutches his forehead and winces, Nina's attention is on him and she asks him what's wrong.

"Something...blue."

The TARDIS materializes and Amy runs forward.

"The Doctor, how could we forget the Doctor?" Rory asks his new-bride.

"He's real?" Nina raises a skeptical eyebrow.

Rory just gestures to the TARDIS with a nod of his head and Nina stares as a man in a top hat pops out with a mad grin.

"Oh, that's strange." The Doctor says, looking at Amy's dress and then to the blonde woman next to Rory in a white dress. "The universe should have just restarted itself. Have you brought me to the wrong universe, Pond?" He looks at her, baffled, "What changed?"

"I don't bloody care." Amy grabs him by the white scarf he's wearing and pulls him down to her level.

"Oh-mmpgh..." He relaxes into the kiss,  _Oh Pond...I missed you, let's not do that again shall we? No more. I hope there's dancing, even if it's not her wedding—I should ask River about it. Is River here? Oh, she'll turn up._ The Doctor's hand had traveled on its own accord to tangle his fingers in her hair. _Look at you, so brilliant, brought me back. I knew you would. My Amelia._

"Does anyone wanna explain to me  _what the hell_ is going on?" Nina asks, her hands on her hips, and her gaze on Rory.

The Doctor, very reluctantly, tears his mouth away from Amy's. "I can do that! But first, tell me, have I missed the dancing?"

Nina gets the simple and to the point version of the story. The Doctor has a time machine that's also a space ship and he is very much real. Amy Pond is special and can bring people back—literally from never being born. She brought him back, she brought Rory back ( "And he was plastic!" ), and her mum and dad.

"Now, what I can't figure out is why you two aren't together." He points back and forth to Amy and Rory.

Rory looks at the Doctor with a tiny smile, "I grew up."

Amy peeks at the blue diary of River's and she finds, very neatly, written below "The Big Bang Two."

_' The Doctor & the Fairy Tale. Memories are powerful, but so are emotions, strong connections made between two people. That bond had the power to effect time lines; if only slightly.'_

"Oi! Don't look at that! That's unfair." The Doctor says, snatching the book away from her. Amy pouts. "Is the writing back?"

"Spoilers." Amy winks and takes his hand; it's time she got to see the Doctor dance. (Here's a spoiler that River's book doesn't mention: he's terrible at dancing.) He rests his forehead against hers as a slow song takes over and Amy sighs, bumping her nose with his, and making him smile.

"What did you think about while waiting for me to remember?"

"I thought about how badly I wanted fish fingers and custard."

"Liar." The Doctor chuckles and for the moment; all is right in the world.

"Your welcome to join us! Bigger on the inside, you know." Amy stands in front of the TARDIS doors. Nina shakes her head. "I think I've had enough strange for one day. Have you seen that bowtie, really Amy? A  _bowtie_!"

"Bowties are cool." The Doctor announces, popping his head out of the TARDIS door, his body behind Amy's. He gives a not so subtle glance down at the exposed skin of her shoulders and the fiery curtain of hair pooling at the middle of her back.

"Well, this is it then..." Amy opens her arms up to her two friends and they hug each other tightly.

"You take care then? Do all that traveling you told me about..." Nina whispers, looking at the Doctor as he leans against the TARDIS door frame. Nina breaks away and walks towards the Doctor, peering over his shoulder to see the interior of this 'TARDIS'.

He grins but the look this woman is giving him is actually quite unnerving. "You're a little mad, aren't you?"

"A madman with a box." The Doctor laughs at some private joke. Nina looks back at Rory and Amy, who are still hugging.

"You're not going to get her killed, are you?" Nina crosses her arms.

The Doctor's grin suddenly falls, "No...no...never." He says with complete honesty and his tone is so fierce, so serious, that Nina can tell he isn't lying. She looks at this strange man and his strange little but big box—and she looks back at Amy, who never really fit in with the village they lived in; Nina comes to a firm realization that there are very few perfect things in the world.

But this madman and Amy Pond...that's something special, something perfect.

"Take care of yourself...of him." Rory mutters and Amy squeezes him tightly. They were in love once, they were going to be married, but as she says goodbye; Amy Pond does not feel regret. She's happy. Rory can live the life he has always wanted, with a woman who will constantly push him and love him just as much as he loves her. And she can live the life she's always wanted; one that's simply mad adventures and running.

The hug ends and Amy smiles as she steps into the TARDIS. The Doctor bounds up the steps in a criss-cross dance pattern. She looks back at her two friends.

"Bye."

"Shall I address the next letter to Mars?" Nina smiles, feeling Rory's hand wrap around her own.

Amy shrugs, so much life and so much energy in her eyes, "Maybe. Or you might wanna address it to 18th century Paris. You never really know."

Amy shuts the TARDIS door and holds her dress as she takes the step to the console. The Doctor smirks at her, "Right then, Pond." He plucks in a few coordinates and takes the lever, Amy at his side, "Every star, every planet, anything and everything..."

Her hand covers his.

"Where do you want to start?"


End file.
